Time In Malta
"A Second Engine" CD (Equal Vision)
Equal Vision has released an astonishing number of great records in the early years of this decade; while this album isn't bad, releases such as "Jane Doe," "Background Music" and "The Second Stage Turbine Blade" have set Equal Vision's bar fairly high and this album - despite being a well-crafted collection of emotional, technically accomplished songs - just doesn't clear it. Nothing on this record is so jaw-droppingly stunning that it requires repeated listening; it's progressive but the vocals and musical structures sound similar to the emotional hardcore (Sense Field) that Revelation put out in the mid-1990s, Kill Holiday's "Monitor Dependency" EP or even the Foo Fighters. If any of those things are your cup of tea, you'll probably find this record quite enjoyable and I would recommend it highly. If those things are not your cup of tea, kindly move along to the next review because there's nothing else to see here.