I can't give much background on this band as the CD did not come with a bio, and neither their website nor No Milk's had anything about them. I gather they are from New Jersey, and that they are still in high school, as noted by their song "Break Out the Violins" with the lyric of "if the rest of my high school love life is gonna be how it is nowâ¦"
Despite all this mystery as to their background, there is not much mystery to the music. No thought provoking lyrics to ponder, no complex music to wrap your brain around, no unique sound to catch the ear. It's Getting Late is pretty standard pop punk (with the emo twist, the thing to do these days) all with a high school immaturity.
"Troma," like most of the tracks, tries so hard to be catchy, but falls flat because of the singer's inability to hit the high notes. Also, the chorus lyrics are based around one of my most-hated pop punk fall-backs "Oh, can't you see?" complete with the whole band joining in vocally. There are sickeningly emo lyrics abound on this disc, such as in otherwise decent "Sleepless Nights"- "Run me over with your car / I'll probably feel better than you do" and in "Switzerland"- "I never knew that drowning could feel so good."
However Socratic's musicianship is fairly solid (especially if they are indeed in high school), and if this CD were just the music without the flat, thin vocals, it would be hard to tell them apart from their older pop punk colleagues. They also throw in some interesting tempo changes as in the opener "Decay" whose intro halts to open up in a brand new speed when the vocals kick in. "Break Out the Violins" is a pretty weak song until thirty seconds from the end it stops suddenly to burst into a driving ending and catchy vocals, making you think it's a different song. The last track "Dead for Days" would have to be the best track, but that's not saying too much. The vocals are catchy but again are weakened due to the singer's lack to hit the low notes, high notes and even the notes smack-dab in his range.
I have little tolerance for any more bands sounding like this, so they better be damn tight at least. Socratic is not.