Though we are extremely late in reviewing this demo from Strength Beyond U (Their full-length release has been available for some time and they've already had a member shake-up since we recieved it), we pulled in some extra help to get the job done; Trailer Park Barbie's very own Erin Schultz has pitched-in to make sure Mitch doesn't "Simon-ize" another unsuspecting band innocently looking for positive feedback. Click "Read More" for Erin's backlash on Mitch and her review of Lincoln Park's SBU. 
Chickipoo fights the “music snobs” with a happy, sunshiney, POSITIVE music review of her own!
by Erin SchultzSince I could not let another Michigan band's debut original effort be shredded to pieces by a certain master-enthusiam-killer at Michigan Bands dot com (Mitch!), I decided to take up the reins myself and lend a positive voice to this often-times overly-jaded clique of local music snobbery.
A while ago, I'd sent my own debut original CD to MB for evaluation (Read Mitch's review of TPB's "About Ready". The reviewer (Mitch) gave us a fairly decent track-by-track review of our songs, but he also, in the same breath, pulled a 180 and attacked the whole schtick of our band, our kick-ass gimmick, our “all-too-familiar” cover list, our non-stop weekend-warrior-and-then-some work ethic, our mindless "bowling alley” popularity, and the fact that all of our original songs sound like the covers we play. Hmmmm... isn't that the point? We choose the covers we play because we like and are influenced by certain artists. Everyone is. He also said he hates it when “cover bands” attempt to write original material. It simply cannot be done, he implied.
(editor's note: Actually, I said "The problem with cover bands playing originals is it often sounds like cover bands playing originals")
Well, I hate it when critics automatically draw that biased conclusion, and I wrote him back and told him that, among many other things. The result was a rather intense debate about cover bands vs original bands, bands that “play to work” vs bands that “pay to play” -- and go broke! Where does music end and the show begin? What's more important – entertaining a crowd or showing off your chops? Is playing music for money selling-out or just having good business sense?
These are all things we have to ask ourselves as creative-yet-sensible performing and recording artists, and there is no single sure answer. But I can tell you one thing for sure: you could be a really great original outfit musically, but if you don't GET OUT THERE and play as much as you can to as many different people as you can AND have the money to survive so you can keep it up, ain't nobody gonna care about your musical greatness or your great original tunes. And there's only so many places to play when your great band's repetoire consists of less than 10 songs...
Anyhoo on with my review of a great band that just doesn't play out that often, from what I gather, but I think they should....
- Band: Strength Beyond You
- CD: Soul Divide (Demo)
- Produced by: SBU & Bill Whyte (Halloween)
Strength Beyond U, or SBU, is a melodic heavy rock quartet from the Lincoln Park area. Members are Amadeus X on lead guitar, Sonny Carafelli on vocals and rhythm guitar, Ricky Travis on bass, and Tom Hart on Drums. Their goal is to create “quality melodic heavy metal” for the masses, and they sure have begun to achieve that with their debut 5-song EP.
Each track is catchy and well-crafted. Band members are influenced by classic heavy acts like Dio, Black Sabbath and King's X, but I also hear Pantera, Type-O-Negative, Danzig, Alice Cooper, Metallica, Van Halen -- even a little George Michael (heh heh... that's only on the ballad, though). The over-all effect of these songs when played straight through is quite powerful. SBU put these great songs in their best, most effective order. From the strong riff-driven opener "Crawl", to the almost-danceable rocker "Soldier," to the radio-friendly power-ballad "Tombstone Child," this disc takes the listener on a journey of what this band is all about -- tastey, driving, groove-oriented dark melodic metal that ya just can't help but whip out the air guitar to -- and that is very important on any recording, even a demo EP.
I give thumbs up on the overall demo production quality too. Although this music is indeed heavy, it would be very listenable to even the non-head-banger. The rhythm guitars sound stellar, which is just what you want with this sizzly-guitar-driven music, and on most tracks the bass/drum sound is right up there with it. I can tell the main guitarist (would that be Amadeus X?) had a lot of input on the mix and that all these guys are seasoned, accomplished musicians, really into what they do -- most excellent stuff.
My one and only complaint about SBU is the vocals. Now, I always appreciate the guy that has to hold down these complicated rhythm guitar lines and deliver the goods vocally AND be the front guy of the band -- that's a hard job to do in a live situation! I've never seen SBU live, so I cannot say that Carafelli isn't a strong vocalist live, but his vocals are indeed lacking on the disc, both in delivery and in mixology. Not bad, not out-of-key, and his voice does have a nice resonance and personality in spots (especially on the ballad), but with every other aspect of this band coming together so powerfully on this disc, that's what my ear was craving from the vox: more POWER! I also didn't hear much if any vocal harmony, and with these songs structured the way they are, I can imagine some soaring heavy-metal harmonies throughout. Just my own pet-peeve, me being a singer that likes to sing with myself a lot in the studio (and in the shower, FYI). I mean, who better to sing with?
My last piece of advice to SBU (and this is simply for the sake of causing controversy at michiganbands dot com -- ya'll don't really have to listen to me) would be to learn 40 covers, throw your own awesome tunes into the mix, book yourself all over the state of Michigan and beyond, and get your stuff OUT THERE!
Thank you, good night!
Now then, let's break it down...
1. Crawl: A good mid-tempo riff-rocker that introduces you to SBU's great guitar sound that continues throughout the recording. Catchy lyrics, but I had difficulty hearing a lot of them. I like the post-chorus unison guitar & vox line. Cool chorus too: "Somewhere now, somebody is bleeding from the inside -- what is it you do when you're afraid to fly?" -- Ah yes, chorus lyrics that stick in your head!
2. Soul Divide: Good choice for a second tune. Not as driving as the first and with a simpler verse-chorus structure. Vox seem to be really pushing on the lower growl, like it's almost too low for him to sing. Very Pantera-esque riff. ROCK!
3. Separation of Man: This is the Goth Metal song, the one with the Alice Cooper-ish intro, the one that reminded me of drinking Jack Daniels in the pale black light with my Type-O-Negative-head friends back in 1995. Love it! Slow metal with heavy-chorus guitar solo.
4. Soldier: This is probably my favorite song on the disc. We got a pick-slide intro (sweet!), a cool main guitar lick with that old Metallica-groove, and a great shout-along chorus ("I'm a Soldier!") that smacks of Godsmack, complete with wah solo. Get this one on the radio before modern rock (or nu metal, or whatever it's called these days) dies out completely, guys!
5: Tombstone Child: One of these things is not like the other, and this is it! I would actually describe this heavily-keyboard-laden ballad as sweet and lovely. A nicely arranged tune totally unlike the rest. Reminds me of Wham's "CarelessWhisper," -- yes, you can laugh, but "Careless Whisper" is one heck of a tune! -- but not nearly as cheesy, with an excellent guitar solo in the vein of Van Halen, complete with extremely depressing lyrics and a little background acoustic guitar. Carafelli's voice sounds at ease & natural on this one, but again, ya just can't hear it that well in the mix. I'm a huge ballad head, no matter what the style of music, and I have to say this is a good one!
Strength Beyond U: Very enjoyable, quality melodic rock indeed. I would like to see these guys live -- straight outta Lincoln Park, Baby!
ES