A STATIC LULLABY – A Static Lullaby

First of all, this self-titled debut’s not static and it clearly doesn’t want to make you sleep at all (at least in the beginning).

A Static Lullaby starts with the up-tempo track “Hang’Em High.” There’s nice rolling riffs and nice breaks … not a revolution of the genre, but a very solid opener. The next track “Contagious” is – well, err … contagious! It simply makes you wanna sing along to the whole track (but watch out: you’ll ruin your voice during the harsher parts).

Before you listen to burners like “Annexiation Of Puerto Rico,” you better invite some friends over and start a moshpit in your mom’s living room.

The boys obviously have got the groove. But, towards the end of the album you might ask yourself: “Have I already listened to that song?” Living in times of musical piracy, such a thought should not be very unusual.

In the end, the album has three burner tracks and eight mediocre to solid ones. Another critical point: The lead guitar play could indeed be a bigger part in this production, but there are also intriguing things about this album, such as singer Joe Brown and backup Dan Arnold (guitar, vocals) nicely create the imagination of a dialogue between a grunty and a sweet clean voice. The other members: John Death (guitar, vocals), Dane Poppin (bass, vocals), and Jarod Alexander (drums), do a very solid job playing their instruments too.

The best thing about this album is the production. Steve Evetts, in any case, had an idea about what he was doing. Besides the music, the artwork is also pretty cool, and the band’s Web site looks like a cartoon á la Sin City.

A first visit to the label’s Web site (see link below) may make you stutter right away. They are selling A Static Lullaby for nine dollars. In Europe, you would have to pay at least fifteen. What are those Lullaby guys going to live off of?

In conclusion, you could say A Static Lullaby is a pretty professional album for a debut, although it’s not a genre gem. Despite that, Fearless Records, in the near future, will be happy about having those guys on board.