Shinky - Forgive, Forget, Repeat (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Shinky

Forgive, Forget, Repeat (2005)

self-released


I don't even know where to start with this one, and not even because it's a bad release, but just because there's honestly just nothing, nothing at all to talk about.

I have finally found an album so bland, so devoid of personality that it's truly leaving me at a loss for words. You'd have a hard time telling me that the same rhythms, melodies, and chord progressions aren't repeating for all twenty two minutes. I'm just asking for a little diversity; is it too much, is going out of your way to write a different song than the last a chore for these musicians? Apparently so.

Shinky's Forgive, Forget, Repeat is chalk full of soaring melodies, solid hooks, and melodic guitar rhythms that will most likely have you tapping your foot. Sounds great, right? You'd think so. You'd think it's a no lose situation, hey, after all, if you like one song, you're bound to like the rest! But I can't settle for that sort of complacency, that sort of routine. They don't have to rewrite the book on music, but when songs are completely, one hundred percent identical, there's a problem. Each new song brings in the same verses, bridges, and choruses, save the five-minute "For What It's Worth," in which the band relies heavily on some subtle instrumentation before even bringing in any vocals, and when they do, it's far more downplayed than on previous efforts. The previous high-octane songs are forgone now, in its place an even more boring affair.

I almost feel bad for ripping such a whole into the machine that is Shinky, because it's a well-oiled one, but it's only good to serve a single function. This is what happens when solid musicians lack any sort of inspiration or desire to play their respective instruments. What's left is a tired retread of an album, with each of their own songs ripping off the one before it.