Valkyrian Music

Band: ReVerbed
Album: Lies You Can Believe
Release year: 2011
Genre: Alternative Rock

ReVerbed are a Doncaster-based alt. rock band, who despite being young have already played in venues around the UK, including in London, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham and so forth. “Lies You Can Believe” was released earlier this year.

”What Went Wrong” begins with an interesting piano medley which finds itself eventually replaced by an energetic, slightly-punk orientated riff. The vocals are an odd combination of gruff and soft pop-punk stylings that don’t agree with one another. The female vocals harmonise the leads vocals slightly but not enough to stop the lead vocals ruining the track. The riffs are well composed and the drums are soulfully played. The short acoustic section would have been more enjoyable without the vocals.

”Obsession” starts with a strange riff, which weirdly sounds similar to a small extent, like a part of “Enter Sandman”. The female vocals do the lead vocal work on this track, fortunately for the listener’s ears. The track feels lifeless and lacking of any sort of passion – Listening to it is kind of like being forced at gunpoint to listen to Justin Bieber. The third song of the album, “Run”, injects a bit of life back into the album though not much as the male vocals are doing most of the work. The guitar riffs are well enough composed, though it still feels like they need something adding to them like an extra dose of adrenaline. In all honesty, the drums are the most entertaining aspect of this song.

”You” has a typical bland sort of grunge sound, which would no doubt cause even the most active of people to slowly drift off to sleep. The vocals seem to drown out the guitars. The good sections of the song would have to be when there is no vocal work, as the music can actually be heard properly. “Scream” has a better start, bringing some kind of passion to the music, keeping it from being a tiring, droning sound. The female vocals are once again the lead, thankfully, though they don’t quite gel with the backing vocals on this track. The only major issue is the drums in one section of the track, as they don’t work well aside the guitar section in one part.

The sixth song “Not Alone” has the generic pop-punk sound that a lot of young bands seem to establish. The track as a whole lacks musical and emotional maturity, as well as substance, sounding more akin to something that a twelve year old would write. There really isn’t a redeeming thing about this song. It’s one of those tracks that would have been better off not being written – or recorded. “Shadow” is the halfway point of the album and is another part of the album with the overly generic pop-punk sound, which is heard loud and clearly in the vocals, to the point where it sounds like the band are trying to be the next Blink 182. The guitar riffs sound half-composed and the drums don’t really add anything interesting to the song either.

”Through The Rain” is an improvement to the previous tracks, though only by so much. Some of the riffs have real bite to them though some of the other riffs seem to be the leftovers of an MCR album. The lack of male vocals is a bonus for the song as well. Following after, beginning with a few samples, is “No Hero”. The riff that follows the intro is a fairly mediocre sounding composition and the vocal section is in need of major tweaking. The drum work sounds familiar to some of the drum work in the other parts of the album – Disappointing to say the least.

Nearing the end is “Burn”, bringing a tiny Bryan Adams sound at the beginning – To as whether this is an intentional part of the composition remains to be seen. The female vocals add life to the song while the male vocals ruin it, kind of like the way police ruin parties. The chorus drains a lot of the energy out of the music, which is unfortunately as this one could have been a party anthem, despite the lyrical content.

”Don’t Look Back” sounds more like a mature composition and the male vocals actually work with the music – For once. Shockingly, it’s the female vocals that don’t do this song any justice. The guitar work is well written and played, as are the drums. “Beautiful Lie” has a semi-mature sound to it mixed with a hint of punk, which the male vocals, again, work with well the music. “Tomorrow” is the final track on the album and is a poor choice to finish the album with. Nothing seems to blend well with anything else, the vocals sound out of key and dissonant and the song just seems to be the kind of song that you’d “accidentally” delete on your media player device.

”Lies You Can Believe” is definitely not a masterpiece, if anything, it’s more akin to a disasterpiece. The vocals are one of the biggest negative factors as neither vocalist seems to harmonise with the other – They could invest in vocal lessons or find a new vocalist – and the music sounds too similar to each track combined with the generic sound of pop-punk, which may or may not have been intentional in the composition. The sound quality of the album is excellent, however. The album doesn’t really say much about ReVerb’s talent as a band who have played all over the UK. Perhaps they should take more time writing songs and perfecting their craft than playing shows.

1.5/5

Nico Davidson

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