Night Riots : "Love Gloom"

Some people are confused as to why these guys are on Sumerian Records, which is a metal label. My answer as a die hard metal head is ...who the fuck cares. Now moving on, we can hear right from the first song "Nothing Personal" it's obvious we are going a more Gotye pop route with this. There might be a little more gain on the guitars, but don't fool yourself if you want to make this more rock than it is. I love pop music. This might come as a surprise, but after I have been sitting in front of a computer listening to death metal all day that is the last thing I want to hear on my walk to the gym. With that stand their is some excellent song writing at work here and vocal hooks galore. Despite the ode to vampires in the lyrics the indie rock of "Fang" works best off the bass driven verses, but the chorus doesn't do as much for me. The lead single "Contagious" has a quirkier side to it. The chorus might swing for the fences too hard with it's anthemic drive.

I can here Taylor Swift singing "Work It". The groove has a similar cool slide to it as "Style", but at the end of the day it's just a really well written song. The vocals flow really well and the bigger chorus doesn't come across like they are trying to hard. There is a very "Enjoy the Silence" like guitar to "Don't Kill the Messenger". The up tempo verses work well on this one as it ramps up into more of an indie rock thing going into the chorus. They back off a little on the more introspective"Breaking Free".  They fake you out on the bridge and allow things to build a little more. The lyrics are this songs strong point. The vocals are really well produced. They also get some pretty cool guitar tones on this album. "All For You" starts in a moodier direction than the more typical radio direction this veers over into. Vocally this guys has a brooding emotive tenor. It hits some lower baritone like notes and then wavers near a head register in phrase similar to many post- Arcade Fire influenced bands.

There is more of a noticeable turn towards electronica on "Pull Me Down". There is a more up beat under current on this one as well. "Everything Will Be Alright" leans are a beefier synth groove on the verse and then soars on the chorus. For it to be a song called "End of the World" it's really happy. It dances around some of it's new wave influence. "As You Are" is somewhat of a piano ballad. It is better than the bland shit Coldplay pumps out, but is also not one of this album's stronger songs. I'll round this one up to a 9 as it is a really fun album that is growing on me.