Reviews

This second release from North Carolina's AkissforJersey definitely show themselves to be a quasi-Christian band with all the Christian imagery in the artwork. Right off the bat, one gets a sense that they're a bit like Underoath, even down to one guy screaming the lyrics and another singing them in a softer pitch. While the lyrics are really interesting, the singing from vocalist Zach Dawson, guitarist Cory Wood and bassist Tyler Lucas leaves much to be desired. "Believe" is where everything starts to crash together, to the point where the screaming is almost unbearable. The problem with this genre of music is that screaming is starting to take over actual singing and it just doesn't work out that way. Maybe some day, ‘singers' everywhere will realize that.

While some songs like "Believe" and "The Fire" have a spark to them that makes them listenable, others like "Parallels" are just so in your face that you have to turn away to avoid being annoyed to death. The semi spoken-word piece, "A Tree and It's Fruit," is probably the most interesting thing on the record, which isn't really saying much. While some people might be turned off by all of the religious imagery in some of the lyrics, particularly on "A Tree and It's Fruit," it's no reason to just completely dismiss the music. Although that is a bit difficult when the band throws in a decent song like "Salus Suas Extanderealas," which manages to work well because there's hardly any screaming in it, and then follow it up with something like "II," which is almost nothing but screaming - it's hard to give the band an even shot.

In the end, while the band tried very hard to make a decent album, ultimately it just wasn't that successful. Maybe next time, they'll know what they need to do and come out better.