Album Review :
Southbound Fearing - Southbound Fearing

Artist: Southbound Fearing

Title: Southbound Fearing

Album: Red Cord Records

Release Date: August 2nd, 2011

1. Irresistible
2. Fighting Words
3. Unseen
4. 200k Miles
5. Bring it Back
6. The Only Word
7. Never Fails
8. This is Not My Home
9. Drums
10. Beautiful

The “Youth Group” genre lives on through Toledo Ohio’s Southbound Fearing. Their Debut Self-titled full length album explodes with a booming of guitars, drums, and synthesizers on the first track “Irresistible”.  What can be a tad misleading however going from track one to the rest of the album is the lack of continuity the songs have.  “Irresistible” has a dance power pop sound that reminds me of Jonzetta (Popularity). Songs like “Fighting Words”, “Never Fails” and “Drums” pop with a sort of heavier Anberlin sound that demands attention but loses luster after a little while.

Out of the 10 songs only one song really caught my attention and that was the song “This is Not My Home.”  The song contains a pop punk/rock feel that resemble bands like Yellowcard, Relient K, The Starting Line and All Time Low.  And though SFB plays with a lot of sounds through this album, I believe this song captures Brady Leonards voice the best and stylistically, this song stays true the whole song.  There are no random things that pop out of no where catching the listener off guard.

Musically this is a very confusing album to stereotype into a genre.  There is a fine line between playing with sounds and finding your sound.  SFB might not have found their full sound but there are several great examples of balance between the music and singing.

Vocally there are parts where there could have been better takes and some parts that leave one to believe the music was more of a priority then melody or singing in general.  The best song melodically is, like I said prior, “This is Not My Home.”  It is the only song that seems Brady is comfortable singing and has the best balance of music and singing.

If you are a production fiend like I am, you will enjoy the way this album sounds.  The drums have great pop and for the most part, if you are into the style, the guitars, bass, and synths have pretty good tone.  If anything for me the production saves this album at some points.

I try not to critique on lyrics but, unless you are a youth pastor trying to get your kids good some positive christian lyrics, you may not be able to get into this album.  There are a lot of times on this album you have to remember that this is the bands first record

Overall: The debut album for a band can be terribly nerve recking.  Whether you are being pushed by labels or you are doing it independently. The debut full length can prove to be a great way to say, as a band or solo artist, we/I have have arrived.  It can also be a so-so record that shows potential or can be terrible and nothing can save you. Harsh words but it is the business we choose to partake in.  Southbound Fearing’s debut self-titled album, being released by Red Cord Records, is by no means great but there is enough of a silver lining that can prove to this bands success in the future.