Dope
Felons and Revolutionaries
Sony
Lineup:
Edsel Dope – vocals/guitars
Tripp Eisen – guitars
Acey Slade – bass
Preston Nash – drums
Simon Dope - keyboards
For a debut, this isn’t horrible at all, but it isn’t great either.
The same general feeling does seem to flow throughout the CD, but it does also
tend to take the sound of every song along with it. There are easily the
standout tracks on this CD, like “Debonaire”, commercial hit “Everything
Sucks”, and the cover of NWA’s “Fuck Tha Police”. Outside of that though, the
album is very uneventful. The music is written with extreme simplicity, which
really helps every song to blend together, and on top of that, Edsel Dope uses
this strange distortion to his voice for the entire album that gives it an
almost watery sound. At first this sounds really cool, but after the third song
or so, it really begins to get old and you really wish you could just hear him
do a song normally. This was their first release though, and many first
releases don’t showcase the band as being as gifted as they really are, so I do
take that into account, but still, it is only decent for a first release from a
band.
The sound quality on this album I’ve already made some sort of
mention to. The distortion on Edsel’s voice is very annoying. The overall sound
quality outside of that really doesn’t fit in too greatly with the album. It
isn’t an extremely heavy album, but they try to put a sound on it like its some
sort of hardcore album, and that really doesn’t work out too well.
This was the bands first release, and there is room for
improvement. Despite some really weak elements, they do show some sort of
promise with this release. Out of 100 though, this gets a 43.
Track listing
1.
Dig Society
2.
Debonaire
3.
Everything Sucks
4.
Sick
5.
Kimberly’s Ghost
6.
Spine For You
7.
One Fix
8.
Fuck Tha Police
9.
Intervention
10. America the Pitiful
11. Shit Life
12. Wake Up
13. I Am Nothing
Sony
Edsel Dope – vocals/guitars/bass/programming
Acey Slade – guitars
Virus – guitars
Sloane “Mosey” Jentry – bass
Sketchy Shay – drums
Simon Dope - keyboards
That promise that Dope showed with their first release gets some
light shined on it with this release. This is best shown through tracks like
“Now or Never”, “Die MF Die”, and “Jenny’s Cryin’”. The tracks keep the Dope
attitude and sound to them, but while adding melodies and hooks to them that
can stick on. Really, every song on this album manages to get in a hook or two
at very least, and they all are different from the ones before and the ones
after them. This was great to hear, but still, that praise only goes to a
certain extent. Dope managed to give a release here that is very listenable,
but they have failed to take that next major step, instead taking baby steps.
Without a doubt, it is a step above their previous release, but they should’ve
taken it another step further with this release.
The sound quality on this album is another part that had
improvement. Edsel actually doesn’t use the water distortion on all of his
vocals on this album, but it still makes a couple too many appearances (note, I
said all of his vocals). The overall sound is much better, a lot cleaner and
fits the music much better.
This is a step forward for the band, but not the step size that
they needed. Overall, I feel that it is a sign of hope for them (well, would’ve
been if it weren’t for some comments made by Edsel in interviews that told me
that he’s not ready mentally), and I feel that maybe there is something behind
all that ridiculous water distortion. Out of 100, this is a 67.
Track listing
1.
Take Your Best Shot
2.
Now or Never
3.
Nothing (Why)
4.
Stop
5.
Thanks for Nothing
6.
Die MF Die
7.
What About...
8.
Move It
9.
Jenny’s Cryin’
10. With or Without You
11. Crazy
12. Slipping Away
13. March of Hope
Avg. band score - 55
