Is it a hit, *hit or miss?
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12
Stones - Potter's Field
by Brad Podray
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12
Stones - Potter's Field
Label: Wind-Up
Hit, *hit or
Miss?: Miss
Rating:  
Do you Enjoy being spoon-fed your modern
hard rock?
If the answer is yes, then you've probably
already purchased 12 Stones' Potter's Field and have no need to
read the rest of this review, as you thoroughly enjoy it.
If the answer is no, then this CD would
be to you what windshields are to the benevolent winged insect population(translation
for the dense: That means the CD is a bad thing).
12 Stones' Potter's Field is a CD
whose sound is comparable to that of Nickelback, Three Days Grace, and
whoever else is on that local rock station you're listening to right now
in the car simply because you feel there's nothing else on.
If there's a formula to hard radio rock,
12 Stones has emulated it to a nearly shameless degree. This formula
involves the following rule that, though pointed out and clearly identified
by awesome writers such as myself, is still widely ignored by popular songwriters.
Here is the outline for anyone's modern rock hit: Jammed out intros that
lead into verses which are to be sung over individually played guitar notes/chords
often in clean-tone, while the chorus or angrier part will give rise
to a harder beat and distorted power chords. Now while modern bands
do deviate from this rule, ignorance of the rule is practically absent.
At least 4 tracks on every modern rock band on a major label will follow
this guideline, and one of these tracks will end up being the hit single.
Don't have any clue what I'm talking about? Well it's probably because
you need it spelled out for you and this reviewer doesn't feel like doing
that. Listen to tracks 1(Shadows), 2(The Last Song), 6(Bitter), 9(Stay),
or 10(Waiting for Yesterday) off of this CD and you'll see examples of
this rule done absolutely by the book- a book which was probably written
by cookie-cutter rock legends, 3 Doors Down.
The fault of this album isn't just in its
generic nature, but in the massive press and album sales that it will reap
due to Paul McCoy's voice being plastered over the radio thanks to the
immense popularity of Evanescence's Bring Me to Life. Hint: He's the
male vocalist in the song that comes in with the wake me up! This album's
sales are kept alive entirely on the life support provided by Evanescence's
immense success. Variation between tracks is limited, though the
album contains the token sadder, slower song(Track 7-Photograph) interspersed
amongst the other tracks. The CD chugs along at a medium tempo, with
no songs too slow to bore the listener and no tracks too fast to turn off
the mass music market, whose brains will probably explode if a radio-played
song goes over 150bpm.
Although there are a good degree of reasons
not to buy the CD, pros of the album are as follows: The album is easy
to follow and guitar parts are not too complicated for 12 Stones' 15 year
old fans to figure out and play for their friends. The music is very
easily accessible to people with all musical tastes and backgrounds, as
it is very middle-of-the road rock n' roll. It's catchy and melodic
enough to stand out as slightly original amongst the rest of hard rock
radio's roster and Paul McCoy's voice and lyrics are not as incompetent
as certain other pop-rock bands(I'm looking at you- the new Creed).
Though it doesn't strike hard as a groundbreaking piece of innovation,
it definitely holds its own against bands like Three Days Grace and Nickelback.
Total lack of profanity makes each track acceptable and ready to be pushed
as a radio single. Yet best of all: Many of the tracks sound alike
so if you forget which one is your favorite, it doesn't matter! Just
skip to any random track and that's probably the one you've got stuck in
your head.
Sure to please- Brainwashed Evanescence
fans. Fans of Creed, Nickelback, etc.
Sure to disappoint- Rap fans, Metal fans,
anybody not mentioned in the Sure to Please
CD Info and Links
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