This is an odd one. On face value ‘One Fell Swoop’ sounds like Matchbox 20 given a 21st Century make-over, complete with ‘strong’ vocals, lots of long words and catchy guitar riffs. The Spill Canvas have certainly turned up the MTV factor on this one; from the more acoustic murmurings of the last record, TSC have gone full-band on our asses, so there are more drums and a more rounded sound – the leap from early Dashboard records to Chris Carraba’s last album is an obvious reference.
Now there’s no doubt that Nick Thomas is a talented musician, but this record is riddled with cliches and, at times, some excrutiatingly bad lyrics. Punkrocks.net have now infamously reviewed this record with a series of pictures showing grass growing in a garden, highlighting the pictures are comparable to the enjoyment gained from listening to this record. Even decoymusic.com claimed ‘One Fell Swoop’ is ‘elevator music’. To be perfectly honest, as harsh as those comments may be, they’re easily on the right lines. As background music this album is passable – as I started to first listen to this record I put it on while reading and before I knew it half a dozen songs had passed. There’s very little on offer to make it stand out, even if each individual track isn’t too bad.
But scratch the surface and there’s something horrible lurking underneath – the lyrics are pretty horrible; cheesy and trite and, well, cringeworthy throughout. I mean I’m sure Seth from The OC would appreciate lines such as “Fate is an elegant, cold-hearted whore/She loves salting my wounds, yes she enjoys nothing more” but I don’t. Even worse is the following line – “I bleed confidence from deep within my guts/Now I’m the king of this pity party with my jewel encrusted crown.” Yuk.
I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy this album, but for me it’s too lightweight and fake. If Nick Thomas’ pain and agony comes from his dad stopping his pocket money, it wouldn’t surprise me. Mildly enjoyable music and reject GCSE poetry is not a great combination. Still, that didn’t stop a hell of a lot of bands and I very much doubt it will stop the legion of fans from slagging me off. But then again, what’s new…
www.thespillcanvas.com
One Eleven Records
Paul