Poetic Tragedy continues to pave the way for indie rock bands breaking out of their shells to come to terms with stardom in the New York “neo-classic rock” scene. The band's recently released EP is a mix that reinterprets classic rock for a new generation.
The band, formed last year, is composed of Ryan Schmidt on bass, Nick Arettines on guitars and background vocals, Ken Walz on drums and background vocals, and Matt Lopez on guitars and lead vocals. While the quartet is a new, the members have been playing music individually and in other bands for several years.
Poetic Tragedy kicks off their new release with “Letters,” a classic rock-styled piece that looks at a person stuck in a mid-life crisis with a resolution: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen." This is a philosophy that describes the next track, “Hey Tomorrow,” a song about when there is a problem a person should look to find the solution. "Jekyll And Hyde" is another rock piece that Lopez defines as the mediocrity that every person who is honest with his or herself can relate to in their lives. “Today” is high-energy rock; “One More Saturday Night” is a silly love song; and “She Cries, ” which closes out the disc, is a rock ballad about a cry out for help in a rebellious generation.
For more information, log on to PoeticTragedyBand.com.
– Brian Barry
After a few years and a few lineup changes, the band has reformed and released this new EP. It is a hard-hitting, loud release (on the Long Island-based Hotfoot Records, a moderately new national indie label that at press time seems to have every sort of distribution except brick-and-mortar) that powers all the way through to the last reverberating guitar note – if you enjoy being yelled at for 45 minutes.
After an eerily melodic opening instrumental track, the album opens with “Boy, I Owe You One,” a heavy, pounding rock opus. Though the song starts out with whining, emo punk vocals similar to those of Fall Out Boy, this tact is soon abandoned for guttural, high intensity screaming. Similarly, the guitar part mutates into a machine gun rhythm, which sounds like a war raging on as the vocals scream out in pain. Later tracks echo this style, as “Relive The Shakes Of 1980” is also punctuated by ear-piercing screaming and fast flying guitars that are eventually release in to a frenzied freefall.
In striving to achieve maximum volume, the band does succeed in creating a completely cohesive sound. On every track, the energized guitars serve to compliment and accent the vocals while the drums are the glue holding the fast-spiraling music together.
For those looking to sing along, most of the lyrics – if you are able decipher them above all the screaming – are about death, decay, and destruction. Similarly, the band leaves wreckage in its wake as it demolishes musical barriers with furiously trailing guitar licks and bellowed cries.
For more information on Bela Kiss and Hotfoot Records, log on to hotfootrecords.com.
– Laurie Kamens
