2 keepers
keeper avg .200
There is some promise to Shiner's debut album, but it all depends on the balance between hooks and sonic fury. To me the hooks are mostly guitar hooks as at this point frontman Allen Epley's vocals are harsh, even by indie rock standards. The first time on the album the buzzing noise stops is the clean, counterpoint guitar part Epley plays in the verses of "Bended Knee"****, concluded with a contrasting, punchy ascending guitar riff, sustained at the end so the stacked chords finally breathe; that is if I don't count the clean riff of the previous song "Brooks" - unfortunate when the song's most memorable part is just a cover of The Cars "It's All I Can Do." Epley makes a point of those complex chord voicings with the slow, deliberate pacing of "Fetch A Switch," memorable but way too long at almost 7-minutes. A towering, sustained riff makes "Martyr"**** another stand-out track, contrasting nicely with the chugging, dissonant verses. The boingy-boingy riff of "Released" is a fun one, though most of the rest of the song is the screechy-screechy version of the same chords so not as interesting. And the album-ending "Pearle" is like a decent groove or at least drive in search of worthy melody or hooky guitar riff. I've heard better Shiner so maybe my expectations are skewed but I don't think they had it down at this point. Just not enough melody, hooks, or drama to offset all the shrill.
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