Despite having (in my opinion) one of the worst band names I have had the pleasure to come across, ‘On the Might of Princes‘ are actually pretty darn good. Coming from the hotbed of the alternative scene that is Long Island (What do they feed the rock kids over there?) this is their third full-length release, and features a splendid mix of poetically smooth and soothing instrumentals complementing some extremely funky musical intelligence. Essentially, what ‘On the Might of Princes‘ do is make music which can be pigeon holed into the emocore category, but they manage to shift around the formula just enough to make some strong initiative music.
Take ‘You Whistle I’ll Shoot’ for instance. The first couple of minutes are nothing eye opening, but on further inspection it moulds itself into a superb track that arguably stands out above the rest. The band aren’t afraid to shift in a slightly heavier direction either with the aptly named ‘Go Fuck Yrself’ which brings the album to a crashing start. ‘Here Comes the Sirens’ is another which seems to fly by with minimum of fuss while at the same time proving technically great.
And it is this that is ‘OTMOP’ greatest asset. The songs wont grab any casual listener first time round, but upon further listens you can’t help but be drawn in. They subtly fuse many different types of music into five minute bursts and it sounds dazzling. ‘My Hands: Landmines and Landfills’ builds into a crescendo of passion with the vocals of front man Jason Rosenthal particularly standing out. ‘They Made me do It’ is the first instrumental of the album, while ‘Spit Survival’ begins as mellow as can be, before another large section of music butts in to dominate the track. Unfortunately ‘Carry Go, Bring Come’ and ‘Cloak & Dagger’ end it all on a slightly sour note, both proving slight disappointments in comparison to that which has pre-ceded it.
It is difficult to pick faults with ‘OTMOP’ as they have produced a satisfying piece of alternative emo rock that shows a healthy amount of invention to serve even the most hardened critic of today’s music. It does however stumble as some songs take a while to completely engross the listener, but that statement in a way does highlight the talent the band have in making solid, involving music. If you see it, I suggest checking it out.
Jay