Artist: Fair To Midland
Title: Arrows And Anchors
Genre: Progressive Metal / Alternative Metal
Release Date: 11th July 2011
Label: Season of Mist
Album Review
The story of FAIR TO MIDLAND has something from the typical Hollywood movies where you have a bunch of plain nobodies and something spectacular happens to them which makes them special nobodies (and which thrills only the teen audience while they spit out their popcorn). As they played in a live gig, Serj Tankian (SYSTEM OF A DOWN) saw them, and was impressed enough to sign them to his label, Sergical Strike. After that everything seemed to go fine for the band (besides a nasty crash in 2010) and after a hiatus of 4 years they are back with this album, their fourth one.
As far it concerns their music, the riffs and at times the intros of the songs are their strongest points plus this raw and heavy feeling their producer Joe Barresi (QUENNS OF THE STONE AGE) managed to infuse to their otherwise rather static sound. The result is generic rawness. They sound as a typical band of the genre, proving once more that the Alternative Metal needs electroshocks to recover from the coma that it has been in for the last few years. It is true that they were a promising band but for Christ's sake, someone, pull out the plugs! The patient is dead. One of the most funny (and heaviest) moments of the album is 'Rikki Tikki Tavi'. Had the band released it in 1916 it would have made Tristan Tzara enormously happy. But nowadays it sounds only like a 70's Rock / Nu Metal version of Joe Dassin's 'Taka Takata'. 'Whiskey and Ritalin' has an uplifting feeling aided by the main rhythm which, I've to admit, is quite catchy, in a combination of alternative and progressive metal. 'Amarillo Sleeps on my Pillow' begins with a banjo tune before the metal aesthetics of the late 90's enter in the forefront of it. Their music brings to my mind something between THE QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE (what a surprise...) and the bad moments of MUSE. Yet the songs are not singable for their most parts.
Their lyrics are ridiculous. They consist of metaphors within metaphors resembling a stoned Sibyl who is unable to say anything not only comprehensible but most importantly anything emotionally arousing. In a way they resemble kids who are afraid to say what they feel only because someone will spank their arses. Maybe on that front, 'Uh-Oh' is the most straightforward song of theirs, but what about the quality of their little verbal tricks? As Orwell named them they are "dead metaphors", expressions so overused which have lost any power of the transferred image over the audience. At least I give them credit for something; as they sing in 'The Greener Grass' they are dressed up "in stolen silver and garbage" and the emphasis should be given to the garbage. Whoever can translate their lyrics to plain English shall win the hole of a doughnut. Maybe it is true and their live performances are cool. But on the other accounts they are not underrated. After all they have won quite a few times the Dallas Observer Award on the Metal category, which makes me wonder if in Dallas distorted guitars alone are synonymous with Metal.
Tracklist
01. Heavens to Murgatroyd – 0:45
02. Whiskey and Ritalin – 3:46
03. Musical Chairs – 3:41
04. Uh-Oh – 4:26
05. Amarillo Sleeps on my Pillow – 4:54
06. A Loophole in Limbo – 3:48
07. Typhoid Mary Sends Her Best – 0:57
08. Short Haired Tornado – 4:30
09. The Upset at Bailey Bridge – 0:53
10. Rikki Tikki Tavi – 3:34
11. Golden Parachutes – 3:53
12. Bright Bulbs and Sharp Tools – 4:07
13. Coppertank Island – 3:19
14. Three Foolproof Ways to Buy the Farm – 2:53
15. The Greener Grass – 11:20
Line-up
Matt Langley - Keys/Electronics
Cliff Campbell - Guitar
Darroh Sudderth - Vocals
Jon Dicken - Bass
Brett Stowers - Drums
Websites
http://arrowsandanchors.wordpress.com/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 4
Sound: 8
Total: 6 / 10
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