Burned Alive by Time
Eulogy
Let me start by admitting that I'm appoaching Evergreen Terrace all ass-backwards. I never listened to them a few years back when they were an internet buzz band. I always assumed that they sounded like that strain of lame emo-ish metalcore that was going around for awhile. You know, some miserable marriage of Shai Hulud and Poison the Well. Gag.
So, what changed? I bought season seven of The Simpsons. On said DVD is the episode Two Bad Neighbors where George Bush moves in across the street from the Simpsons. Most of the episode takes place on Evergreen Terrace. This prompted me to go back and check out the band. How bad could they be if they referenced The Simpsons? The answer is, of course, not bad at all.
Burned Alive by Time, while not the most original or groundbreaking album of this decade, is a solid, well-played, well-constructed and enjoyable affair. Evergreen Terrace takes many of their cues from fellow Floridians Poison the Well but that's not a bad thing in this case. The moshy parts are heavier than Oprah without ever descending into jock-idiot territory. The best example of this is the cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" which concludes the album. The song is rearraigned into a rock context (from the original electro-pop context) and contains a seriously evil breakdown, but it never sounds like something off of Hatebreed's ill-advised cover song album.
Evergreen Terrace does tend to go overboard with the clean-vocal, screamo parts. They sound like Howard Jones-era Killswitch Engage, but they don't sound forced like Howard Jones-era Killswitch Engage. In other words, they are annoying but tolerable as they naturally flow with the music.
If we're giving out grades for these things, Burned Alive by Time gets a B+. Besides, I've got a soft-spot in my heart for bands that really know their movies.
Evergreen Terrace - Burned Alive by Time
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