ANTAGONIST

Ah, the joys of press materials. This young Los Angeles band was compared, in the information sent along with the CD, to prime METALLICA, and the release of "An Envy of Innocence" is supposed to be the biggest earthquake in the metal world since "Vulgar Display of Power" came out. Funny, because all I hear here is a decent, hardworking band that's beholden more to GOD FORBID and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE than PANTERA, and whose tenacity and hard work in the live arena has yet to be matched with songwriting prowess.

That's not entirely an indictment on ANTAGONIST — it's to be expected that a young band is gonna be beholden to some more modern influence. There's some of the by-now-typical Swedish thrash (as filtered through American metal),a little bit of hardcore feel, plenty of melodic guitar, and lots of the same stuff we've all already heard from UNEARTH, DARKEST HOUR, and a hundred other bands. ANTAGONIST delivers their take on this sound with conviction, but there's not enough force either in the songwriting department or the performances themselves to help them rise above their third-tier status.

Isolated moments of, if not genius, then at least good thinking, give hope that ANTAGONIST could grow into contenders. The beginning of "Valor and Villainy" is bad-ass, with some sweet guitar work that makes a nice regal intro to the energetic song that follows. Unfortunately, the song quickly gets bogged down in a generic breakdown, and that glimmer of hope is gone. "Night Light", too, has some interesting moments, and a little quirky pseudo-technicality, that makes it stand out, at least for a moment. Those few instances might keep you listening through to the end of the record, but it's doubtful they'll bring you back for repeat spins, when so many better examples of this kind of metal abound.

Instead of reviewing albums like this, perhaps there should just be a link on the front page of the site, maybe the word "meh." If you clicked on it, a list of albums like "An Envy of Innocence" would appear. You'd get the idea, much cyber-ink would be spared, and it wouldn't be necessary to try to find, once again, a way of using 300 words to say "eh, they're okay." The potential is there, as is the work ethic, now ANTAGONIST needs to get its musical house in order if they want anyone outside their hometown to care.