Music Under Fire

Rating: 8/10

A few weeks ago amidst the Christian “Holy Week”, The Cast Before The Break’s debut album As Your Shoulders Turn On You (Red Dragon Records) came into my possession. Perhaps it was the time of the year that opened me up more to their pressing lyrics or the simple fact that in just six tracks I felt a part of something bigger than me. Whatever my reasons, the five artists (T.J. Foster-vocals/guitar, Jeremy Carter-guitar, Jordan Stewart-guitar, John Cannon-bass, Ben Hemingway-drums/production) from Oneonta, New York drew up some physiological framework that can really start one thinking differently.

Despite carrying a sound akin to pop alternative music, AYSTOY hardly comes across as typical of a genre overloaded with songs lamenting relationships and instrumentals controlled by solo escapades. Having honed an instrumental sound balanced not within but close to Sum 41, Explosions in the Sky, Death Cab for Cutie and Days Away, the group enthralls for all 30 minutes.

Since AYSTOY was shaped around the story of a young man in a coma, who is barely holding onto life, the lyrics carry a mental deliberation in them while the instruments relentlessly battle this angst.

Foster’s vibrant depiction of the emotion swirling in the album comes to life in each tormented lyric/thought. “Onward Love” opens the album with a hollow electric guitar before Foster’s vocals complain briefly before the song settles back with a strong melodic conclusion. What follows on the album vaguely mimics this undulating style as each track slowly gyrates up and down with each matchless refrain and instrumental ballad, whether through vocals, guitars, piano, bells or drums.

“From the Earth at a Crossroad”, The Cast Before The Break mixes a shortened intro laden with an evenly-spaced bass, a dreamscape guitar and simple drum riffs as Foster’s muffled vocals precede a rise into an intricate refrain where bells are tolling, guitars begin soaring and Foster, like Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley, swings between talking and singing. Hearing “As your shoulders turn on you, you're left with nothing but a spine” sinks any eager ear back to resting position for the rest of the album.

Following this, “Agnosia”, which is AYSTOY’s most alternative-friendly song, stars an acoustic guitar accompanied by the occasional electric. Although the beginning and end of this song are quite solemnly composed, the whole group seems to join in enthusiastically with Foster’s voice as he readjusts from a quiet storyteller to an emphatic lead vocalist.

“Understanding the Universe” opens with over a minute of slow piano playing and Foster singing, “I remember what its like to be in love” before an Angels & Airwaves-type build-up comes in as a synthesized wah-wah joins a slightly distorted electric guitar and quick rapping drum. Much like the rest of the album, the tempo speeds up in this track before falling. Here the band sings the anthem and the instruments jam, but slowly only the vocals of the band remain.

As Your Shoulders Turn On You winds down mildly with “Cerca Trova”. Although a strolling bass and guitar open up the song, no instrument controls the tempo quite as well as Foster’s heady voice, which calls out “love will you wait for me” as the human struggle comes forth with a heavy background of drum and guitar playing to the eventual ballads of “I’m terrified of who I am inside”.

“Relying on a Respirator” undoubtedly is the album’s most depressing and sweet song. Foster sings “Why am I dead, why am I sleeping” and the group hums in a spiritual manner while the piano taps away the end of the album’s short life.

Overall, the wavering spaced-out endings to the tracks really controlled the pace from song to song, enabling each transition to be separate yet linked. An underlying story behind an album always helps give an upgraded atmosphere, and something so depressing as a young death certainly strikes compassion in most people.

The fallbacks from the album were that there were only six tracks, Foster’s voice didn’t really separate him from many lead vocalists and the drum playing, although crisp and flawless, never was given the opportunity to control the tempo.

I would highly recommend this album for the sheer emotion and conglomerated talent The Cast Before The Break showcased. Any flaws were minute compared to the crisp delivery and production.

The Cast Before The Break will be playing in the finals of the Bamboozle’s The Break Contest, which concludes at Asbury Park, NJ on April 19. Check out their new web page as well as their myspace page, both of which you can purchase the album from.

MP3: The Cast Before The Break - From the Earth, at a Crossroad
Mp3: The Cast Before The Break - Cerca Trova