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40 Below
Summer: The Mourning After
The first thing I noticed about 40 Below Summer is what an intolerably hip name they have: 40 Below Summer. What the hell is that, a pun? It could mean either a temperature that is 40 degrees cooler than summer or a summer that is 40 below zero. Either way, I say Awesome man!! The next thing I noticed is that when I put the CD in my computer, it forces me to play the album through specially included software that totally sucks. Whether this was the bands doing or the labels doing, I can only say: You are jackasses. On to the music. The Mourning After (another pun?!?) is nu-metal that sounds polished, competent, and ready to roll out to all your favorite ass-kickin radio stations that play loud rawkin metal muzak. Oh, yes, this album is competent alright. The songwriting is solid and accessible, I guess. The first song, Self Medicate, is even fairly strong with its solid vocal harmony hooks. If the whole album had maintained that level of catchiness, I would have happily labeled it as harmless and decent pop music. As it stands though, the further you delve into this album, the more the songs drone indistinguishably. The thought of attempting to describe individual songs is just painful. You want to know what they sound like? Find some capable musicians and have them rip-off Korn and Disturbed. What do you get? A few Ozzfest-worthy moments to be sure, but at the end of the day, youre still left with a third-rate band ripping off other third-rate bands. Ultimately, The Mourning After is an album that not only confines itself to the boundaries of radio-friendly heavy music but loudly and shamelessly announces that it is perfectly content with those boundaries. 40 Below Summer say nothing original, attempt nothing original, and take no risks. Thats no crime, but it means that the band must make up for it with high quality pop music. They dont.
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