Lowlander

Relate

Label: Deka Records

Sounds like: Green Day, Offspring

Grade: C+

The… Lowlander

Relate

Label: Deka Records

Sounds like: Green Day, Offspring

Grade: C+

The music sounds like Green Day and the vocals sound like drunken karaoke, so the perfect tagline for this album could be, “Garage band drunkenly covers Green Day classics — but not very well.”

There are many flaws on this album. For example, it’s hard to distinguish one track from another, as they all tend to sound alike. “Cast Aside,” “Dirt Road” and “Relate” could have easily been re-mixed to make one semi-likable track to save space for better constructed songs, like the following “Remainder.” With aching guitar riffs and surprisingly passionate vocals — even with lyrics that don’t reach much emotional depth — this track is easily one of the best on the album.

As the album progresses, it becomes more apparent that cutting tracks should have seriously been considered. After “Remainder,” the album continues for a dreadfully unnecessary 12 more songs.

Only two of those songs stand out from the mesh of musically identical tracks: “Hey Girl,” which manages to steer clear of the generic pop-punk formulas poisoning the rest of the LP and the album’s closer “Last Call (Fare Thee Well).” It’s slightly gummy and pulled apart, which works very well. Or perhaps it doesn’t work at all and only stands out because it signals the end of this album.

Though there are definitely strides in the right direction with this LP, Lowlander needs to work on expanding its musical catalog before going back into the studio for a third attempt.