Two Seconds

SteveK discusses The Fray and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

Lonely Road – Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

On their second full-length studio album, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus releases a steady set of anthemic Arena Rock; these tracks are tailor-made Rock tunes and Power ballads. Unfortunately, the eleven songs that make up this album are completely pedestrian. While well performed and competently produced, there is nothing really outstanding here.

The album opens with “You Better Pray” -also the lead single- which sounds so much like 1980s Glam Metal that I half expected to see the band wearing mullets, lipstick and skin-tight leopard print pants in the video. The album then shifts to a more ‘Slippery When Wet’-era Bon Jovi sound-without the benefit of Jon’s mid-1980s Rock falsetto.

Instead, accompanying the 80s “Hard Rock” musical styling, vocalist Ronnie Walker offers up a typical-of-the-genre, soft, Emo Rock, vocals that can be interchanged with the vocals of half a dozen other lead singers from half a dozen other current bands.

Unimpressive, generic songs and generic vocals make for an album that’s probably an easy sell, but if you’re looking for substance, you’ll find about as much here as you would on the latest Jonas Brothers release.

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Virgin
Steve’s Rating: 6/10

The Fray – The Fray

On the opposite end of the consistent music delivery, the Fray releases a much more promising follow-up to their 2005 debut, ‘How To Save A Life’. This one is more singer-songwriter melancholy music, but with refreshingly insightful lyrics.

“You Found Me”, the first single off the album, is only the tip of the iceberg. The other 9 tracks offer very similar musings and philosophies. The music has the same lyrical flow that has made The Fray famous. However, the second half of the album seems to take an emotional downturn, with the tone and music changing from melancholy to misery, and the songs are less ballads than dirges.

Good songs on this one include “Absolute”, “You Found Me” (of course), and “Enough For Now”. The latter is poignant and poetic. All in all ‘The Fray’ is an enjoyable, rewarding album, and though it may not win the band any new fans, avid listeners of The Fray will not be disappointed with…err, ‘The Fray’.

The Fray: The Fray
Sony
Steve’s Rating: 8/10