Blinded Black - Under the Sunrise

Blinded Black
Under the Sunrise 1/2*
Sidecho Records

Several years ago I dragged a friend to see AFI with me at a dingy club in Sacramento, Ca. After the 45 minute set I can assure you this serious vegetarian would rather slam some sliders then ever watch them again. Well fast forward to a few weeks ago he happened upon their performance on SNL and was disgusted that not only did I like them still but that I liked them even more than in their hardcore days. As an indie snob he was bewildered where this emo movement came from and how it just seemed to appear. And while I did my best to point out that there are several bands within the movement worthy of the "hype" I am starting to see the inevitable decline is coming fast and furious.

As a youngster I was an unabashed metal fan that you could just as easily find rocking out to Poison as Metallica. At first the scene was strong with every band having some merit. Of course with everything comes saturation to the point that a band like Britney Fox went platinum beyond their girlish hair. To this day I can still enjoy "Talk Dirty to Me" as much as "Damage Inc", and in the future I'm fairly sure I will still love Ten Falls Forth's "Murder Kills Japan" or AFI's "The Leaving Song". What I will definitely not be spinning is anything off of Blinded Black Under the Sunrise quite possibly the Britney Fox of "emo".

It's sad that a group of young people so dexterous at their instruments couldn't come up with something more compelling then this mess of a record. In another generation or just the ability to go their own way they might have produced music that would have an impact. Unfortunately by simply following the herd they are only able to mimic a style that has already been perfected and seems to have nowhere else to go.

The problems start immediately with "Intro" a synth laden waste that made me fear I had accidentally clicked on one of my wife's Enya tracks that is wasting space on my iTunes. This was quickly followed by "Death is Never Permanent" a paint by numbers track with bombastic dribble covered with standard nasally vocals and screeching and stupid synth lines. How the hell did synthesizers ever become ok again??? Anyway the next 9 tracks might as well be "Death is Never Permanent Parts 2 - 10". Under the Sunrise? Well let's just say this belongs where the sun never shines.

by Josh R. Perry

http://www.staticmultimedia.com/content/music/reviews/cd/review_1174915857