Sorry, no covers this time.The quote above is listed in the liner notes of Evergreen Terrace, and while it's a shame because they took songs by bands such as the Offspring, Sponge, and Smashing Pumpkins and made them into much better, heavier versions, it's awesome to have some new material.
I was a little bit surprised to see on the cover slip that Eulogy recommends this for fans of bands such as the Used and Atreyu. Maybe Atreyu in the fact of dual vocals, but the Used? They pulled a Victory Records move to increase sales and it's bound to piss someone off. But upon listening to the CD, this little setback is long forgotten when this is playing, because Evergreen Terrace's Sincerity Is An Easy Disguise In This Business is an awesome album by an awesome band.
The first thing I noticed about Evergreen Terrace, before even listening to them, was their band name referencing the street on which the Simpsons live on. I always found that rather cool and much better than other Simpsons-inspired names such as Fall Out Boy. Evergreen Terrace's musical sound is a mix of heavy guitars that remind one of punk-based metal filled with shouting, and a cleaner side that includes some good clean vocals by the guitarist. Thankfully, Evergreen Terrace is unlike Atreyu, as there isn't an overload of clean vocals, and the vocals that are clean aren't whiny at all. On some of the faster-paced songs, Craig's vocals can compare somewhat to Bane. The contrasting vocals and solid guitar-work are a great setup, but Evergeen Terrace strengthens this setup with the ability to write even better music.
The CD starts off with "Dogfight," and it shows how well the songwriting is on the album. It starts with some head-banging guitar-work and shouting, and then throws in some cleaner guitar hooks and clean vocals. Craig absolutely nails on his vocals when he sings "I want to believe you, but I'm letting go." It's not too emotional in a bad way, but has some emotion that you can tell that he feels for what he's saying, and the fact that it's catchy, in midst of a heavy track, really shows contrast and makes "Dogfight" an awesome introduction track.
The second track is "Give 'Em The Sleeper," which starts off fast paced with a spotlight on the drums and the cleaner parts remind heavily of music by Bane. Also on two of the lines, including "what a wasted life," it brought back memories to the dual vocals of Union 13. The song is rather short and finishes up in around 90 seconds, and then "Brave Reality" starts. The clean vocals on the song sound really good and I like how he delivers when he sings "you still think you got one more time around." The lead guitar sounds really good and the ryhtm guitar also plays pretty well.
"New Friend Request" has some strong lyrics with "you'll never make it on your own" and the song is really good. At this time, the shouting starts to sound a little bit like John Hunt of Dead To Fall. "Gerald Did What" has some nice guitar riffs and plays out extremely well as it has some of the best guitar-work of the entire CD. "I Can See My House From Here" is a pretty heavy track and the lyrics seem to fit in the same topic as the title of the album. "The Thunder" kicks off with dual vocals as they shout/sing "Staring back, your disposition will be the end of you / laying out this one condition / you're going nowhere." The song is also a pretty good mosh song.
"I Say You He Dead" has the sweetest part on the CD. A Spanish-inspired acoustic guitar introduction is awesome, with the song's lyrics dealing about a killer; it only runs around a minute, but leads into "The Smell Of Summer" well. "Tonight Is The Night We Ride" has some nice dual guitar work with some solid riffs and is a solid track overall.
After the tenth, and supposably final track, we're given an eleventh hidden track that helps aid the CD in length, making the CD come in a little bit after 27 minutes. The acoustic guitar-work is great, but not as good as the acoustic introduction on "I Say You He Dead." Vocally on the track, it's a lot softer and you can easily just sing along with it. While listening to it, the vocals really sound a lot like Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach on "Scars," which surprsingly, isn't a bad thing. It's also cool because if you have repeat on, it leads right into the first track.
Overall, Evergeen Terrace's Sincerity Is An Easy Disguise In This Business is an awesome CD overall because of its contrast, great songwriting, strong lyrics, solid vocals, and creativity. Not too many albums on the market sound like this one. It also has my favorite album design of 2005 with a nice greenish/yellow graphic design with a nice box surrounding the text and the black suit and red tie is quite cool. My only complaint is I wish that they'd add a cover or two or have had several more tracks to make the album a little longer then 27 minutes, but then again, listening to it through repeatedly isn't a bad thing. I'd recommend this to nearly anyone who likes punk, metal, metalcore, hardcore, post-hardcore, or anything, because Sincerity Is An Easy Disguise In This Business is one of the top releases of 2005.