The sell sheet this album arrived with states The Bank Robbers are for fans of The Used, Taking Back Sunday and Hawthorne Heights, and they are bang on the money. This is post-hardcore/emo/screamo and, to be fair to TBR, they are one of the better exponents of it, even if you haven’t yet heard of them. Their last record was a good one – a little generic, but with a set of very strong songs that probably deserved a better response. This album follows on from the same formula and while there’s better production and some very good songs, it’s very much more of the same and doesn’t show enough growth to warrant a higher score.
Having said that, that’s never done Hawthorne Heights any harm has it? And in a similar sense, The Bank Robbers have a clutch of songs that are catchy, hit hard and make you want to singalong – it’s just a number of other bands have already been there and done that. ‘Defending The Kingdom’ is a cracker, as is ‘Spirit of the Stairway’, while ‘Making promises’ is also very solid. Robert Nardone has the perfect vocal for this type of music and he is ably backed up with some very good backing vox. The guitars sound very good on this record with lots of layers giving it a rather full sound.
But for me it’s just lacking a little something that would take it to the million-selling ranks. If you listened to ‘Saying Sorry’ by Hawthorne Heights and put it alongside one of the songs here, there’s a slight difference. And I’m not saying HH are a better band, they just have a slight more mainstream appeal. While The Bank Robbers have made a good stab at tackling a very popular sound, it just lacks a little of their own personality and identity and so, I believe, suffers as a result. It’s easy to get lost among so many similar-sound bands, and while The Bank Robbers are far, far better than most, I still think this record may get a little lost among the bigger hitters. Well worthy of checking out if you’re a fan of any of the bands mentioned in this review, mind.
www.myspace.com/thebankrobbers
No Milk Records
Paul