Band: Failingravity
Title: Tainted
Label: Wounded Records
Release Date: 2005
Review By: Scott L
Tracklisting:
- Eminent Domain
- Memories Pt. 2
- Chemical burn
- Foolish Pride
- Fable
- Wish Upon A Star
- Tainted
- Memories Pt. 1
- Mean To Me
- Remedy
Nostalgia. Webster’s defines it as “a bittersweet longing for persons, things, or situations of the past”. Nostalgia is a funny thing. And I’m sure that anyone who’s ever dug out an old family photo album would agree. Nostalgia comes in a number of forms. That pang of loss at the pictures of lost loved ones. The twinge of embarrassment at the picture of you in the sweet red ToughSkin jeans holding the Sesame Street lunchbox. And then the longing that comes with the realization of how simple life always looks in hindsight. That’s because cameras are for our good moments. Who wants to remember the bad ones? Pictures are to memorialize an instant in time worthy of recollection. And I said all that to say this, the past is a wonderful place to visit… but it’s a terrible place to live.
Failingravity is, or rather was until 2007, a 4-piece out of Winslow, Indiana that released a CD titled “Tainted” on Wounded Records back in ’05. As I mentioned, it was only a couple of years later that they decided to call it quits and pursue other areas of interest and employment. As far as I know, only drummer Billy Welsh went on to make more music joining a worship band called Branches… not to be confused with the other worship band called Branch. At any rate, if you’re a mid to late 90’s modern rock aficionado, then this CD could be spot on for you… if you’ve got an iron constitution. Think Poor Man’s Riches. For everyone else… well, it’ll most likely come across a little dated. Kinda like that old Alf t-shirt you’re hanging onto for sentimental reasons. Okay, so maybe not quite that dated. For the most part it’s well done, the problem is that it’s been done. And done. And done. And done better. There’s just nothing here to really catch your attention. Honestly, I found it way too easy to hit the skip button on several of the songs. Sadly, on a couple of the songs I was even compelled to hit the skip button.
While technically proficient musically, another setback at times was the production values. This would be good for indie work… but as a label release… survey says, sub-par.
Lyrically, Failingravity is all about hope in hard times and this is where they shined the most in my opinion. Not always the most creative with their lyrics, their spirituality is nevertheless a continual thread woven throughout the songs. Although at times very overt at other times it served more to punctuate the ideas presented as opposed to being the defining piece. I thought this worked really well. Consider the song “Fable” a slow, heavy ballad about God’s hope in the midst of despair… it says, “on the verge of throwing it all away / I don’t want to see another day / if I could die and get rid of all this pain / what would happen to this soul gone astray / oh, when I’m weak you’re able / when I’m lost in this fable / You carry me away”.
The standout track was “Memories Pt. 2” which was just a solid rock tune all the way through. The low point was “Wish Upon A Star” which I thought took these guys too far out of their talent pool.
Overall: My mom always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all… but I’ve never been good with advice. Suffice it to say that if I could review this CD on heart alone, it would do very well. However, taken as a whole, I’d file this one under “room-to-grow”. Burn Season, Stone Temple Pilots, Jeremy Camp vocals, and 1/3 cup of Bland-o is not the recipe for success. So unless you’re a die hard retro rock fan, I wouldn’t get your expectations too high if you decide to check these guys out.
www.myspace.com/failingravity