I think some of the new allegedly “screamo” bands should provide vomit bags with copies of their promos. I’m almost in shock that in 2004, well into the great modern screamo explosion, that bands are still prone to churn out cliche after cliche of emotional wasteland. “Remind Me To Burn These Pages” ?!?!?!?! Please. How about you remind youself to get a shred of originality…at least lyrically. Musically, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED are pretty solid, and remind me stylistically of MIDTOWN’s lead vocals and encompassing harmonies, but with FINCH’s structural chunkiness (or maybe MATCHBOOK ROMANCE as well). While I’m fairly put-off by the fact that ALL RIGHTS RESERVED are an entirely contemporaneous entity, aping so much of what has already been done in the past 30 months, the five songs on this EP show more than a modicum of musical talent and energy. Additionally, having fantastic production behind the band’s music dulls my obvious contempt for their lyrical banality, and the sweet artwork and digipak cut-out at least shows that there’s some committment behind this band. I know there’s a current market for music of this ilk, so if you’re still riding through these emo-pop-core shennanigans, by all means ALL RIGHTS RESERVED deserve some attention. In the meantime however, I’m going to go brush my teeth.

Pumpkineater

www.pumpkineaterrecords.com