DecoyMusic.com

• Website
• Buy

2nd Half - Now It's Real

Rating

RIYL

311
The Urge
Sublime
Zebrahead

Label

Official Site

Tracklist

Look The Other Way - 2:56
Now It's Real - 3:20
On The Down Low - 3:41
This One - 3:19
Hypothetical - 3:12
Simple Distraction - 3:12
Remembering - 3:05
Situations - 3:06

Are you having trouble finding music to play at parties? Well look no further, 2nd Half is here to rock you from head to toe. "Now It's Real" will have you boogying down all night long. Imagine the vibe of 311 without the rapping, throw in some The Urge and voila, you have on your hands a rockin' good time. After hearing the first track, I just had to find out more about this band. So of course I, as any normal person would do, got on the web and searched for their site. I was surprised to find out that this band is only a two-piece! But this is by no means another Local H. Ed is the vocalist as well as the guitarist and Drew plays the drums. Everything else is produced on the computer, pretty cool huh? I was blown away to hear that they even perform live as a two-piece with an accompanying computer. These guys do everything themselves, they even make their own merchandise! How nutty is that? That's what I call true DIY.

Now enough on the band, let's get to the good stuff. "Now It's Real" is just a fun, energetic disc full of songs that could, if in the right people's hands, blow up. "Look The Other Way" starts off the festivities with a jumpy guitar riff followed by some catchy vocals that will have your head bobbing up and down in no time. The following tracks follow the same path and just keep up the energy, never once letting down. "On the Down Low" comes blasting in with one of my favorite guitar riffs on the disc. Each song is heavy enough to bring the rock, but at the same time they're full of spunk, bringing a fresh sound to the bland palette that is today's music. "Hypothetical" and "Remembering" are other awesome songs to rock out to as well.

Though I really do like this disc. There is only one flaw that I found. The vocals stay the same throughout the 8 tracks presented here. By no means are they bad, but it's kind of like sitting in a classroom listening to a monotone teacher speak for 45 minutes. But the musicianship averts your attention from the vocals and you'll be dancing around your room anyways so you probably won't even notice. I was very impressed by this band. I still can't get over the fact that such a huge sound comes from only two people, it's mind blowing. So here's what I suggest you do, pop this disc into your car on a sunny day, roll down the windows, and drive like you stole it (just kidding about the last part, I don't encourage reckless driving!).

--Alex