A Road to Damascus - A Road to Damascus
Rating
RIYL
EmeryThe Swellers
A Day to Remember
Broadway
Release Date
09/05/2011
Label
Self ReleasedTracklist
1. Decelerate2. New Perspective
3. When There's Nothing Left To Burn
4. What A Waste Of Breath
5. Talk Is Cheap
6. No Wonder
7. Head High, Hands Down
8. The Best Is Yet To Come
9. Forever And Another Day
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A Road to Damascus are an intriguing musical beast. I have decided to call them “Post-nearATDR-Swellers-Tinyzack-core.” More on that later. The Danish quartet definitely have a branding issue, though, because I was expecting something entirely different than what I got. They promised me breakdowns, they promised me hard-hitting; I got pop-rock. But I loved it anyway. I think they’ve got a bright future ahead of them if they can nail down their sound for prospective listeners who might be less forgiving than me. I imagine anyone who isn’t required to listen to the whole thing the whole way through will turn off the first song right around the 25-second mark.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that they were trying to pull off pop-punk mixed with hardcore, A Day to Remember style (the fact that their acronym is ARTD only fuels my conspiracy theory). Except, they actually pull off such a pleasant and silky smooth punk much more in line with The Swellers that all the screaming sounds totally out of place, kind of like all the screaming in any Fall Out Boy song ever. Incidentally, the screamer sounds just like he’s a very tiny Zack de la Rocha. Throw in a propensity for what can only be described as power ballads, and you’ve got the Emery and Broadway angle. And there you have it—whatever genre you can synthesize from what I just described is roughly what A Road to Damascus is. Post-nearATDR-Swellers-Tinyzack-core. But you know what? They’re not bad at all.
Album opener “Decelerate” opens with a misleadingly post-hardcore riff that melts away into a touchy-feely acoustic strum and vocalist Mikkel’s (they don’t provide their last names for whatever reason) angelic pipes. Before you feel as though you’re the victim of a bait and switch, however, let the big, poppy chorus really sink in. The core of A Road to Damascus’ songwriting is catchy, singable tunes, as much as they want you to believe they have “pulsating breakdowns” and “hard-hitting energy.” They’re about as hard-hitting as Cartel, which is an entirely different demographic, but I don’t begrudge them their pop leanings. “New Perspective” follows, a little more rock-inflected, with a driving, Jimmy Eat World sort of chorus.
Just so we’re clear that I’m not calling A Road to Damascus liars, there are precisely two heavy sections on the album: the beginnings of “What a Waste of Breath” and “Talk is Cheap.” You can hear Tiny Zack de la Rocha throw the hell down over some really fun riffage. A Road to Damascus is totally capable doing heavy, and doing it pretty well, but it’s clear their lean is decisively pop rock, which brings me to “The Best Is Yet to Come.”
Dear Pop Bands,
No fucking power ballads. Off limits.
Love, Zach.
There. That’s my piece. A Road to Damascus are a really solid pop rock outfit who sometimes masquerade as a post-hardcore outfit. Regardless of what they are, though, they’ve got an excellent command of writing catchy hooks and creating memorable vocal melodies. Their debut effort is a respectable notch in their collective belt. At nine tracks, it’s on the short side, but you could do a whole lot worse.
--Zach Roth
Comments
Reno, NV
I'll take pop-rock over post-hardcore 6 days out of the week.
Current Listenings:
Psychollywood - Psychollywood
Royal Thunder - Cvi
The Next Hundred Years - Troppo
Kyng - Trampled Sun
Kill Devil Hill - Kill Devil Hill
Baton Rouge
This is not the kind of music I like. But for what it is, it ain't terrible.
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/