Artist: The Radiance Effect
Album: Wake The Forgotten
Reviewer: Tyler Hess
With some bands it is just difficult to translate their music from one format to another. Either they are a great studio band that can’t really put on a show to get the kids’ attention or they are a great live band that can’t fit all their raw energy onto some kind of a cohesive recording. The Radiance Effect is a band that boasts of playing 250 shows a year in a manner that helps them to reach out and touch people’s lives. At least, that appears to be their goal. I can’t say I’ve seen them live, but I can tell from this 15 song album that they are in line with other bands that I keep hearing that “I just have to see live” in order to understand them, like maybe Mute Math or mewithoutyou.
To tell you the truth, this isn’t the easiest album to get into. It reminds me of when Blindside came out with their “The Great Depression” album, being a little bit more experimental in lyrics, vocals and instrumentals (except that this album is a bit more uplifting in spirit than the depression that Blindside put forth). The vocals are quite frankly all over the place, sometimes a nice soft rock voice, other times a shrilling banshee sound that makes me think that maybe they could have just kept experimenting a bit more to make it edible to my ears.
This listening experience has really been a rollercoaster ride for me. I go from comfort, to excitement to that oh no what is happening to me feeling and finally to relief, only to go through it all again. There are a few bumps on the ride, but as long as you didn’t just eat twelve hot dogs and you’re into this type of indie rock then I wouldn’t blame you for buckling up for the ride.
6.5/10
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