Victory Records, listen up: Have I got a band for you! Since diversity has not really been your strong suit in recent years as you seem to gobble up band after band of pseudo-hardcore emo acts, you’ll surely be interested to hear Foster, who are currently unsigned. They’re just like TBS, but without a compelling singer, or like Hawthorne Heights but without all the forced and silly screaming. Really, these guys don’t have anything to distinguish them from wave after wave of pop-emo, but chin up; with their ability to remain as faceless and unnoticeable as possible, you can slip this right under the noses of all the myspace-loving teens. They won’t even realize what they are doing when their subconscious tells them to buy the CD from your online store!

I’m being a bit rough on these fellas, perhaps. The EP’s opener, “Speakeasy” does have a catchy chorus, but first, I had to make it through the gag-inducing first minute. Closer “Goodbye’s Graces” starts with the most promising riff on the disc accompanied by a driving beat but nothing outstanding vocal-wise. That leaves the innards: “Through and Through” is forgettable, and “Trying to Raise the Dead” has a breakdown that is so short and weak that it leaves you asking “why bother?” The big problem here is that Foster seems to dabble in this and that; they dabble and copy, with no defining characteristic to separate them from the flock. Guys: Find what you do well and run with it. I’m not sure what exactly that might be, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

Since I’m so late on this here review, I thought I’d find out what the Foster guys have been up to more recently. They have some new songs on their myspace page which show improvement; they sound more confident, especially vocally. They’ve stuck with the overplayed style, but I’d say their upcoming release may just shut my mouth. We’ll see.