Thursday, July 5, 2012

Leadership By Assault - 2012 - A Little Less Than Honest

Alternative Rock
[FOR FREE]
<a href="http://leadershipbyassault.bandcamp.com/"
  • 6 songs to download
  • You name the price (min 0,-)
  • You get the link if you register your email address
  • Listening recommendations: What You Are
Impressions
'A Little Less Than Honest' is angry, ever so angry rock music, of a mostly hard variety. Vocalist Marissa Banghart is getting therapeutic and a wee bit confessional with the lyrics, giving songs like “Zach Thomas” a sincerity to the viciousness most bands would only toy with. Seriously Zach, you're dog meat pal. While definitely filled with anger, Banghart's vocals do seem to bring the same emotional resonance to every track, giving them all a similar sound, except “What You Are”, where her vocal range gets to explore the space a bit more on the high and low end to great effect. The music backing her up isn't instantly remarkable, coming off a bit too similar at times to other modern alt rock bands (thankfully in this case, none of them being Hole), but upon repeated listens the goods reveal themselves. It was the little touches the keyboards added to certain songs; “Sober Up” for instance, that became more apparent upon subsequent listens. A little psychedelia is just what the doctor ordered, let the drunken haze roll on! “8's and 12's” shows just how much rumbling force having three bassists will bring to your music, the keyboards also bring a small amount of 80's prog rock to the table with their icy stings on the chorus. “Megan's Song” being partially acoustic and a straight forward ballad is a nice change of pace, tonally. The lone electric guitar wailing in the background gives things a melancholic touch whereas every other track brings the pain. It would have made a better end to the EP than where it is now, but that's only even a minor issue if you listen to tracks in order. 'A Little Less Than Honest' sticks to its hard rock guns and succeeds for the most part, and as the first release with their current line up, I feel things will only get better over time. A few rough spots, but worth checking out.

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