Burns Out Bright - Save Yourself A Lifetime

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 27 / 3 / 2006

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Review

Burns Out Bright’s first release, a six-track EP called ‘Distance and Darkness’ which I heard two years ago, suggested a band that, with a little tinkering, could make some fine music. There was a naïve charm to their songs,which made it easy to ignore how little they deviated from the typical post-hardcore formula. Unfortunately, rather than branching their music out by channelling their enthusiasm into more profitable areas, the band have simply polished up their post-hardcore style. On first listen, ‘Save Yourself A Lifetime’ feels more diverse, but this is only because they have borrowed more ideas from their contemporaries. On ‘Distance and Darkness’, the band seemed to bite, but here they sound tame, with uninspired riffs and uninspiring melodies. Often the songs are just too long. 'Replication Is The Highest Form of Replication', for example, spans out over a patience sapping seven minutes, without offering anything novel enough to justify the time spent digesting it. Their label Deep Elm insists that the band wanted to rail against the inanities and clichés of mainstream music, but if this was the case, surely Burns Out Bright’s music wouldn’t feel so calculated? On ‘Optimistic Nihilist’ the band ask what has happened to their beloved punk scene. But their music sounds identical to all the bands they despair of. When they later proclaim “We need a new sound, Right Now!”, are they only ones who don’t see the irony? Burns Out Bright’s worries about the way the music scene seems to be heading seem to have come out because they have had a rough two years since their first release. Perhaps the protracted and difficult process of recording the album - to which they allude in the sleeve notes - simply sapped all the life out of the songs. And without good songwriting, their (once irrelevant)musical weaknesses, especially their very weak vocals, are all too evident. Since so many bands with this style seem to be successful, I assume that Burns Out Bright will have no trouble finding an audience, but it won’t be a discerning one. With the exception of the odd catchy hook, this album fails to reproduce anything that made their debut enjoyable. ‘Save Yourself A Lifetime’ demonstrates nothing a thousand other bands couldn’t do, and as such, it feels trivial.

Track Listing:-

1 The World Is Going To Hell
2 Optimistic Nihilistic
3 Replication Is The Highest Form Of Replication
4 Michael Keaton Backslash
5 Sincerely I
6 My Other Band Is A Hardcore Band
7 I Just Want You To Know, I Hate Each One Of You
8 When Life Feeds You Lemons, Choke On Them And Die
9 Nothing Keeps The Werewolf Away Like A Silver Bullet
10 Remember Son, One Day All Of This Will Be Yours