Love [Import]

As soon as the stunning riff of "Bring It Low" opens the Juliana Theory's major label debut, it's plain to see that this is going to be somewhat different to "Emotion is Dead". The guitars are heavier, and - most notabley - singer Brett Detar's voice has changed. With the exception of the amazing "White Days", there are no tunes with the same gentle emotion that made "Emotion is Dead" so special. Even "Into The Dark" (which itself was on EID) sounds different. The band pack a much stronger musical punch than before, and it sounds immense!

It would be easy to view this change of sound as suicidal, except for one thing: it sounds damn good! There are many killer tunes on this CD, the pick of the bunch being "Repeating, Repeating", "DTM" and "Congratulations". Not all of the songs are as brilliant as these, but on a 14 song CD you can afford one or two weaker songs. And still, even the worst tracks are hardly stinkers. I would imagine the songs that I think are the worst would be somebody else's favourites. There is plenty of diversity, so everybody will find different thing's to love about "Love". Styles range from the traditional emo of "Shell of a Man" to the slow-burning epic "Everything". And of course their are plenty of riffed-out rock anthems as well!

They've done the sit-quietly-and-emote sound, now they're doing the punch-the-air-and-play-air-guitar-throughout-the-album sound. They sound almost like Foo Fighters-meets-Audioslave on "Love", but with far better songs than either of those two bands. It seems that no matter what the Juliana Theory do, they do it well.

Chances are you have never heard of this band. If you have, it was most likely in a reference on some blog to early '00s emo/rock, and most unlikely it is that you have actually listened to any of their stuff.

This is very surprising, because the music they played was always of a very high calibre, and from their late '90's debut "Understand This Is A Dream" to the groups final release, 2005's undervalued lost gem "Deadbeat Sweetheartbeat", the music they played was always consistent, varied and unbelievably catchy!

Why the band never achieved mainstream success is overall a mystery, although the abrupt change in sound and commercial failure of this, The Juliana Theory's major label debut (released by Epic) does go some way in explaining how they lost favour at least with their fan base. But overall, earlier releases such as the aforementioned "Emotion..." And "Understand..." were every bit as good as similar genre bands such as The Get Up Kids or even Jimmy Eat World circa "Bleed American", and just as deserving of mainstream attention. So why did they evade mainstream popularity? What was the reason?

Which brings us to this album.

While its true it isn't as accomplished or as cohesive as 2002's fan favourite (and minor classic) "Emotion Is Dead", its hardly a dud in the vein of Metallica's "St. Anger" either. Instead, it settles for the middle ground, an average album from a talented band that could have done so much better at the time than what they did (think Jimmy Eat World circa. "Futures").

The faults lie less in the quality of the songs (a nice portion of this album is above average to great) and more in the lack of variety on display. Keeping it brief for just a moment, it is important to note that this is an album that is not as good as the sum of its parts.

Normally I dislike song by song reviews, but in order for me to give "Love" the justice it deserves, I thinks its appropriate.

1. Bring It Low- despite an inexplicably bad title (what does it mean exactly? A sign of what is to come?), this is actually a very strong song. Lyrically speaking its ok, if not particularly memorable. But the vocals have real bite, and singer Brett Detar sounds extremely ticked off. In short, a quick and appealing introduction to a modern rock album with an old fashioned punk snarl. Think My Chemical Romance with less of the teen angst, and more traditional song structure. 8/10

2. Do You Believe Me?- this was probably intended to be the groups breakthrough hit, and to give credit where it is due, the chorus is addictive (and features one of the millenniums finest "whoah-oahh" gang vocals). But the verses lack a memorable melody whilst the lyrics sound like they were rushed in the writing process. In short, this doesn't have the depth and subtle beauty of "Into The Dark" ("Emotion Is Dead" version) or "Music Box Superhero" (from their debut), and for this reason isn't one of the albums stronger songs. Still fun though as far as filler tracks go. 6/10

3. Shell Of A Man- for some reason the lyrics and vocals don't mix. The lyrics are poetic; the music has this lilting, dreamy vibe whilst the vocals have an irritable bite, meaning this is less the absorbing slow rock number its intended to be, and more like listening to a petty teenager complaining about himself for an hour. While it is true the majority of this albums stronger points feature agitated vocals, for this song it just doesn't work. A smoother croon in the vein of Jeff Buckley could have made this track a poignant, beautiful number. Still, the melody is there, and the closing piano outro is haunting, so its a minor step up from the previous song. Only minor, though! 6.5/10

4. Repeating, Repeating- does exactly as the chorus suggests, this is far more repetitive than any song should ever have the right to be, and yet it is also one of the albums most memorable moments. Its heavy. The band crash, soar and towards the end simply explode with guitar harmonies ripped straight out of the late eighties hair-metal scene (although it lacks any sign of hairspray, thankfully!). Obscure lyrics about holding a candle under water let the side down slightly, but the song is so catchy and fun you probably won't notice them. 8/10

5. Congratulations- is this the same song as before? Whoah! Definitely blends in a little too much with "Repeating, Repeating", excepting that, on closer examination, this is the better song of the two. 8.5/10

6. Jewel To Sparkle- such a lovely ballad, this is the kind of song that with a bit of work could have been a major chart smash. Pretty, wistful and the melody recalls to mind The Beatles at there most tender. A favourite, and the lyrics are sweet, romantic and summery. Only a slight hint of dreariness in the vocals let the side down. Still, its the best song on the disc so far. 8.5/10

7. White Days- I have no idea what a "white day" is, but after listening to this song I am quite sure that I want to find out. Sumptuous vocal melodies and shimmering production values make this the song worth buying the album for alone, just to hear it for the first time. Without a doubt the second finest song on the album. 9/10

8. The Hardest Things- after such a strong run of songs, this is really boring. The lyrics desire to be profound, yet come across as obvious and uninspired. Really, do we actually need to be told that "the hardest things in life are things we have to do" over and over again? I think not. So the end result is a rock song that is insipid and despite a decent moment here and here (particularly in the drum work) and a healthy dosage of quality musicianship from the rest on board, this is too grating to be a favourite. Not entirely bad, but less than average. 5/10

9. DTM- stupid title aside, this is a cool song! The drumming again stands out the most, whilst the guitars are very post-hardcore, like Rival Schools. Good, not great! 8/10

10. Trance- one of Juliana's greatest songs, this is epic! The snarl is back in Detar's voice, and is at its most convincing on the whole album. The chorus is explosive, shards of melody shattered into a pulp that reverberates like an intense memory of a vicious argument. Amazing ending too, its like the heaviest moments of seventies rock compressed into about 40 seconds of mosh pit inducing madness. If any one of these songs deserves a place in rock history, its this one. Spectacular, ten tracks in the band unleash one of their finest ever moments, and the albums best song! 10/10

11. In Conversation- eew. This is gross; the lyrics are self indulgent and the whole thing sounds false. Bad. If you want to hear The Juliana Theory doing this kind of lo-fi emo rock, check out their debut album "Understand This Is A Dream". That album is full of songs like this. Only so much better.
A serious drop in quality after the awesome "Trance". 2/10

12. Into The Dark- pointless re-recording of a song the band perfected in its original form back on "Emotion Is Dead" two years previously. The execution is more mature, and the vocals are perhaps delivered with more professionalism, but somehow it just doesn't work. And if the band felt it was worth a rehash, why put it right at the end of such a long album? A puzzlement. Check out the original, its sublime, whereas this sounds forced. 4/10

13. As It Stands- see "In Conversation". So falsely emotive it makes me feel sick. 1/10

14. Everything- sucks big time. A shockingly juvenile song lyrically, this is so unforgivable as it finishes the album in such a terrible way. Not very good at all, though the guitar parts do benefit the song for the better at the end. 3/10

At 14 songs in total, this album is bloated and far to long. The lyrics rarely, if ever, make any sense, relying far to much on strange metaphors and obscure word phrasings (see "Repeating, Repeating" for an example of this).

Also, the musical variation on display is a very mixed bag, and despite such powerful moments like "Trance" and emotive ditties that ring true (like "Jewel To Sparkle" or "White Days") there is just far to many songs that sound alike (1,4,5,8,9 all sound similar enough to feel like different takes on the same heavy song, and 11,12,13,14 do the exact same thing for the lighter side of the album) resulting in an album that can be safely categorised as a fans only release. Worth purchasing, but only after you get the rest of the bands albums.

However, on a personal level, I regard this album as a minor favourite of mine. I enjoy a lot of these songs more than many other fans, perhaps more even than the songs themselves deserve. Despite being of a far lesser quality overall as compared to "Emotion Is Dead" or "Deadbeat Sweetheartbeat", I do actually find myself playing certain ones of these songs more often than you may expect from this, admittedly rather harsh, review . Its fun in places, despite its prominent flaws. But I don't like nearly enough of the albums 14 tracks to forgive all the major faults this album so clearly contains. The last four songs are dreadful! For example, I cannot recall to mind a single line from any of those songs at all. Also "In Conversation" and "As It Stands" are terrible, terrible songs, period.

With such an awkward balance of good and great to preposterously bad, the only word I can think of to justifiably sum this album up is:

FRUSTRATING.

3/5