The Audition -Controversy Loves Company

Thu 23rd Feb, 2006 in Music Reviews

The Audition are an American five piece from Chicago. They’re part of the new wave of rock/punk, where punk means angry spirited rather than being anything to with the music itself. For their part, The Audition play a very dancey sort of punk, music that gets the toes tapping, and compare themselves to the likes of Fall Out Boy and Alkaline Trio. If they haven’t gotten the same level of recognition as those bands, it’s not entirely clear why; the songs on their debut album Controversy Loves Company follow the same formula, and are fairly similar. The end result is the standard formula behind this sort of punk music; if you like punk, you’ll love this album, if not, best stay away.

Album opener Dance Hall Turn To Ghost Towns offers up pretty much everything The Audition has to offer. It opens in a very straightforward way, no surprises as the vocals kick in. The guitar work is standard punk stuff; fast but not distinctive. The drums are similarly fast without being brilliant, and the song slides by without making much of an impace.

You’ve Made Us Conscious is the band’s big single, which they’re pushing through their website. It’s another stock standard new punk song; it begins by planting the accelerator firmly on the floor and it seems like nothing is going to bring it back up again. A chance for some crowd sing along adds a certain element to the chorus, but the song suffers during a mid song bridge which eliminates all the guitars, sapping all the strength and drive which the song had earned.

It’s Too Late begins with a lighter guitar riff, but before too long the loud wall of noise crashes in. This time the bridge actually ups the energy and tempo of the song, which results in a much more satisfactory punk song.

Approach The Bench introduces itself with some delay pedal on the guitar, and uses it frequently throughout the song, but it barely serves to distinguish this song from the rest of the album. Once again the bridge is caused by all the instruments taking a break, as though the Audition read in a book that’s that what bands should do in their bridges.

And so it goes on throughout the album. All of the songs sound remarkably similar, sometimes even with a one to one comparison. The Ultimate Cover Up begins in much the same way as It’s Too Late, just vocals and a guitar, but once the main guitars kick in, they just maintain the usual pace. Don’t Be So Hard and Lawyers float by without making an impact.

Rep Your Clique, despite having one of the worst song names in recent times (ironic or not), has a decent riff attached to it, flying in like a kick to the guts, and features some of the best guitar work on the album. Unfortunately, while the next song La Ravilita has a fine beginning as a more epic song, it fizzles out into just another punk song

Finally, album closer Smoke And Mirrors ticks off the last of the punk clichés, as starts as a ballad, but proves itself to be more of a slow burner, as the intensity gets ratcheted up about a third of the way through. Even though it’s only three minutes and thirty six seconds long, it’s the longest song on the album.

The Audition get points for brevity, but it’s hard to imagine any listeners finding anything in The Audition that they can’t easily get from another source. With more than our fair share of local punk bands in the Australian music scene, it’s hard to imagine The Audition getting much airplay unless they can find a unique sound. However, those so enamoured with punk music that they’re looking to get as much as they can might find something to love in The Audition. If that’s you, then go nuts.