is this thing loaded?
‘In the vein of Taking Back Sunday, Armor for Sleep and This Day Forward, where bands are suddenly making a distinction between emo and emotional punk, Northstar promises not to be just another dime-a-dozen band.
First of all the obvious name separation exists. It’s almost refreshing to see a band gaining in popularity that doesn’t have a three-word name that sounds like it was ripped randomly out of a sentence from a book. Superficially, the differences stop there, though. This is your typical band of anorexic boys in mesh caps, wristbands, and button-down shirts.
In this instance, you can judge a book by its cover. In a random sampling I tested with a few people unfamiliar with both Taking Back Sunday and Northstar, not one person could distinguish one band’s sound over the other. The differences are negligible.
In this instance, there is nothing wrong with that. Taking Back Sunday has an appealing sound that crosses the borders of independent and mainstream music. It’s respectable as well as financially profitable. Therefore, Northstar should be able to expect the same success. More power to them both.
As an equally fitting description of the band’s music, they sound like Midtown did before they made the collective decision to suck ass.
All of this probably sounds harsh or degrading to the band, but it’s not. This album has been a personal addiction for the past week or so now. With the exception of an odd two-second-background scream on “Black Heart Valentine,” the last track, this album is enthrallingly energetic.
Northstar may not win any points for originality but, in a post-modern world, hasn’t it all been done before anyway?
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