The Velvet Teen

Out Of The Fierce Parade (2002)
Slowdance Records

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Contributed by: Scott
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on December 17th 2002

The Velvet Teen is really good.

That's a good enough opening sentence as any, right?

Figured as much, you probably want to know more. The only thing is, I'm not too sure what to say.

"Out Of The Fierce Parade" is this Santa Rosa, CA threesome's debut album, and it's a doozy. For starters, it's a ten-track concept album telling the story of life [all the way from birth to death]. You don't even have to hear the music to appreciate the lyrics, which read as beautiful as your favorite poet's work.

It's only fitting that the music sounds as beautiful and grand as the lyrics suggest. A lazy listener [or record reviewer] would make the easy comparison to Radiohead, and while that isn't too far off, singer Judah's voice can sustain his gorgeous falsetto high notes without turning into a Thom Yorke-esque warble. Think of Jeff Buckley's better vocal stuff and you'll have a good idea. The music is lush and full in tracks like "Into The Open" [unarguably the CD's best track] and rocking and catchy in tracks like "Radiapathy," but sparse and cold in tracks like the aptly titled album closer "Death." The band really pulls off this concept album, as the listener follows along with each lyric to see how this life will turn out.

This is also a situation where the album's artwork compliments the music contained within perfectly. The back cover has ten different etchings, each representing a different song on the album, and the booklet art is absolutely stunning. I'd like to shake the hand of whoever drew this.

I wish I would've gotten this album earlier in the year. Every time I listen to it I hear so much potential, but I have yet to really sit down and dig into the disc, as it's the end of the year [and my "waiting for review" pile grows deeper by the day]. If I had more time to dedicate to just listening to this album, I could almost assure that it would make my Top 10 of 2002 list. As it stands right now, this is an outstanding album and band and you should all keep your eyes out for them.

MP3s
Caspian Can Wait
Into The Open

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Anonymous (July 5, 2003)

Such a great artist. If I had the guts to create music, this is the closest thing it would resemble.

recordings (December 19, 2002)

"forty nutz" is still several times worse than this.

now, if it were "the velvet teenz"....we'd be talkin a whole 'nother story.

Anonymous (December 19, 2002)

(lockdown59 says)

Shitty name. One of the worst i have ever heard. And yes, the cover art is something else, I'll say. WOOO-EEEE, who did the art? It's really good.

Anonymous (December 18, 2002)

Cool cover art, stupid, stupid band name. Scott, I think Forty Nutz is better than this.

-sickboi

Anonymous (December 18, 2002)

I'd like to dig up Jeff Buckley's corpse & rape it again & again

Anonymous (December 18, 2002)

If you had the album you could tell it's clearly not a drawing. I was at that Rockwood show as well. It kinda sucked they didn't play any piano songs, but a really good show. They were amazing at Gilman with Denali.

Shane

jer-kass (December 18, 2002)

hey, i saw this band in rockwood michigan last month they rocked the house with the Ghost, the cost, and a local band by the name of heyday. but the velvet teen stunned everyone. At the beginning of one of their songs he began to sing into his guitar. His voince echoed through the strings and came out of his guitar amp. It was the most creative and original show i had seen in a while. Keep your eyes on this fucking band.

drewcifer (December 18, 2002)

yeah! like who doesn't know the difference between a drawing and a copper plate etching? what a homo! haha no wait i'm being sarcastic, fuck you shane.

Anonymous (December 18, 2002)

Yeah bro. They've done one cover song. They are a cover band all right. What in the fuck are you talking about?

Shane