The five-piece band Margins of Society comprised of Trevor Houck (lead vocals), Greg Harman (drums), Scott Shackelford (guitar), Nick Smith (bass) and Marc Weaver (guitar) formed in 2011. They recently released Disconnected, which is an eleven-song album.
My first thought and I don’t say this in a bad way was that the music didn’t sound contemporary. There seemed to be an obvious influence from rock from the ‘80s and early ‘90s to my ear. I have stated in the past that I think that musicians are much more often to sound similar to music they were listening in their late teens and early 20’s. If I were a betting man I would put my money on the fact that the band is well past their college years. The album is diverse or scattered depending how you look at it. There are some straight hard rock songs then they play reggae/pop and go into other areas as well. The good news they pull off most of what they attempt. First up is “Welcome to the Human Race” which is a mix between what sounds like sludge metal and a brand of rock you could imagine coming from the Talking Heads. Lyrically, the song is broad and taps upon topics such as choice and destiny. He sings, “What’s the point? The point is you have a voice/I feel bad. The way that you feel’s a choice/I’m no good. Embrace the God that made you/Don’t give in. Take your ideas, push ’em through.” “In The Groove” is a funky affair not too far from James Brown. The singer sounds nothing like the singer but the music does during the verse. The lyrics don't have much substance on this song and felt like they were there to get you more into the music. “Steep Climb” was a highlight that revolves climbing the corporate ladder while “Diminished Returns” sounds similar to UB40 as they meld reggae and pop. Another highlight is the title track, which is more or less standard rock but has a number of memorable melodies. As the album progresses “Even More” was the other song that stuck out to me. My only minor gripe with this album was that I was left feeling like the band didn’t have much of a distinct sound. Perhaps this was because they attempted a lot of different styles and felt like a genre band. Overall, this is a solid achievement for the band and I can give it two thumbs up.
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1 Comment
12/30/2015 10:50:31 am
Ted(THE EVEN GROUND), thanks for the review. You pegged us well in that the 80s and 90s were indeed formative years for us. We deliberately pushed ourselves on this album to stylistically write songs that were outside of our comfort zone. We wanted to prove to ourselves and our fans that we could write and produce interesting music in a variety of genres while maintaining an edgy rock vibe. You clearly recognized that. We recognize that making a homogeneous collection of songs (album) would be more marketable. But, having freedom to explore the musical landscape sure is a lot more fun! Thanks again for the review and the two thumbs up. -[MoS]
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