When I first put this record on, two things struck me.
1) That sometimes a change of singer really isn’t a bad thing
and
2) This band really sound like Cartel now.
My only previous experience of Bedlight For Blue Eyes was at about the time former vocalist Christian Guerrero left the band. If ever there was a band that relied on their singer a little too much, it was Bedlight. If you’ve ever heard Christian sing, you know just how much of an amazing voice the guy has. It could be argued that he carried the band on his own, using his voice as an instrument to life the songs into different dimensions. But for whatever reason he left and the band recruited Daniel Rinaldi and regrouped. The result is the band’s new record, released on Trustkill, called ‘Life On Life’s terms’.
And after noticing just how much of a ‘band’ this group have become, less reliant on Christian, you’ll then notice just how much this record sounds like Cartel‘s ‘Chroma’. Produced by the same guys, I guess it should be no surprise, but it has the same super click production and tracks like ‘Waste My Time’ have huge, glossy singalong choruses which beg to be sung along to at the top of your voice. Daniel’s vocals are a lot less wailing and a lot more commercial sounding, so they fit a lot better into what the band have morphed into. ‘Whole Again’ could easily be a Cartel track, and while the comparisons are obvious it’s not so much of a bad thing because the laidback pop-punk sound really suits this new generation of Bedlight.
Not wholly original, this is actually a really good record and a nice surprise. Embracing the need for change, Bedlight For Blue Eyes have cleverly changed their style so to not leave fans bewildered at how they could replace their last singer in a like-for-like way. Their new style suits them and I expect this record will gain them a lot of new fans. Nice one.