Punknews.org

|
Sign In | create an account

Waterdown

All Riot (2006)
Victory Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: crazytoledo
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on March 24th 2006

From what I originally heard of Germany’s Waterdown, I wasn’t impressed. The shouting was horrendous and the melodies were watered down. So when I heard they were releasing All Riot, I didn’t pay any interest. However, after I read a review of the CD and noted some interesting references (Atreyu, Scorpions) I decided to take a look.

The first thing that strikes me is the new vocalist, Michael Janczak. Janczak’s shouted vocals sound like a mix of Atreyu’s Alex Varkatzas and Brandon Saller. It’s only fitting since "My Hopelessness and Me" starts off with a carbon copy drum line and dueling guitars of Atreyu’s "Right Side of the Bed," until the ending, which features a shallow breakdown more reminiscent of a band like Shattered Realm. As for the singing, it would sound easily at place if you heard it around the choruses of any ‘modern rock’ song on your local radio station.

Waterdown at times does start to shine with some intriguing vocals that switch back and forth around some of the songs, and musically it isn’t exactly bad, but it’s been done before. But what stops Waterdown from being a reasonable band is the fact they still haven’t completely ditched their hardcore roots. In almost every song the listener is forced to listen through the same breakdown you’ve heard hundreds of times by every other band that pronounces theirselves as hardcore.

So while All Riot isn’t a complete letdown, and is a huge improvement over their early work, it still doesn’t have enough going for it. It shows off a little creativity and originality at select moments, but it feels too similar to many other bands and needs some re-working. With another improvement like this, I could see this band going places.

Login to rate this album

Please login or register to post comments.

What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?

Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

Anonymous (March 26, 2006)

will/chinatown why do you post under 2 different names if you are the same person?

Anonymous (March 25, 2006)

the kids are all riot

Anonymous (March 25, 2006)

where is the devil dogs review from 30 sizzling slabs?????????????????????????????

danielxedge (March 24, 2006)

good record. good guys.

Anonymous (March 24, 2006)

In other news, London Calling does nothing for me.

-Chinatown

Anonymous (March 24, 2006)

"However, after I read a review of the CD and noted some interesting references (Atreyu, Scorpions) I decided to take a look. "

Please... Please stop writing reviews.

-Will

Anonymous (March 24, 2006)

i loathe seeing the word hardcore nowadays, btw.

anyway, this band has like 2 amazing ass kicking songs in their discography, and the rest is pure bile.

crazytoledo (March 24, 2006)

Posted by Anonymous on 2006-03-24 13:11:48

... So you wrote a review about other reviews?

Could you actually describe the music with SOME details?

For a short review, I thought it did a good enough job. I described the music and reference bands that Waterdown obviously takes interest from.