LOVE IN THE TIME OF GHOLERA
The Sun Through Glass
2005
1 Setting Distances Ablaze Joint stereo 0:34
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I'm going to do everyone a favor and be brutally honest from start to finish. I've done fifteen reviews this month. At least half of them haven't been too good. I'm bored and strung out on anything that isn't excellent. All these factors aside, I still probably would show very little interest in owning The Sun Through Glass. Far from being a poor effort, it's nothing that hasn't already been done to death so many damn times before, but with more personality. Virginia's Love In The Time Of Cholera definitely have their work cut out for them, I'll say that much. Struggling to find an effective balance between euro-metalcore, melodic punk influences, emotional singing, and breakdowns might've been a difficult task upon the first inception of blending these styles together, but now the process is about as paint-by-numbers as it can get. So while I give the band some credit for staying inside the lines and using a variety of colors in all the right places, they lose major points for originality. There's also the heinous "recite spoken poetry prior to/during the breakdown" infraction, but I'm willing to overlook that in the face of much larger flaws. The band mainly suffers from the vocalist's inability to recognize his own range (great highs/singing, amateurish growls/lows), and a general refusal to heed to reasonable song lengths. You simply can't draw these songs out to six minutes, no matter how many clean-strummed interludes with emotional screaming you include. "Taking Life" is probably my favorite track on the album towards the beginning, with it's stripped down riffing and predictable, yet, very comforting songwriting - then shifts again and again, causing me to forget what the hell I just listened to. These songs must be a nightmare to learn. Again the same frustrating meandering happens on "I'm Not Cuban And You're No Redhead", the song starts out extremely promising with strong singing and a memorable riff, yet degenerates into this mess of over-elaborate structure. I'd like to point out that, like a lot of bands I've come in contact with lately, piece by piece, it's good. It just seems like Love In The Time Of Cholera have no idea where to take their ability. I wish they'd just streamline their efforts and channel them into something breathtaking and more chordal, for lack of a better description. They have the means and the talent to do so, but they're dragged down by the inherent difficulties of trying to encompass too many influences and styles in one sound. I don't have a single doubt in my mind that if these guys would just find one style and stick to it, the result would be nothing shy of great. Still a young band, I wish them all the best, and I'm actually very positive we'll get something of high quality from them within time.
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