Prologue:  i got high.

Chapter 1.

on a music stealing site that i frequent, i saw that the new Set Your Goals record was up.  SYG, a band who’s ep was initially sent to me over the internet by a random guy in 2004. i dug it.  it had a very slight lifetime feel to it, and it grew on me.  then in 2006, as i was slowly starting to become jaded with the hardcore scene and the bands within, their first full length came out.  it was an awful record, but i wanted to like it so much that i think i pretended to.  part of me wanted to believe that i wasn’t losing touch with current hardcore music, something that was very important to me for a solid 4 years.

now, in 2009, i have their latest offering.  at this time, i have fully given up on current hardcore bands and am completely apathetic towards the genre itself.  yet i’m listening to it right now, and subjecting it to more scrutiny than i give to even my favorite bands.  this is one of the first times in awhile that i’ve listened to a record for the first time and really listened to it.  why?  morbid curiosity?  do i want to see how unlistenable this band has managed to become?  or do i secretly love it and just want to hate it?

let me tell you, blog screen, that it is definitely morbid curiosity.

ok, i will admit this:  the first 3 songs did transition into each other quite smoothly.  they also were pretty good.  the music was solid, until the vocals came in.  i actually found myself enjoying the songs up until they started singing.  this band typically has really, really dumb vocals, and they continue to with this record.  also, both of the vocalists have fucking annoying voices.

the 4th and 5th song were very average, dare i toss out the “cookie cutter” term.  it was during those songs that i decided to write this blog.  i was bored.  currently, i’m on the last song and i dont want to write about set your goals anymore.  this last song is really un-epic, but i can TELL that they were going for the “epic-last-song” vibe.  the vocal chant part for this song is “we’ll never rock alone.”  they also opened a breakdown by whispering “lets take it back.”  thank god the new shook ones just came on (thanks to a pretty slim itunes library).  i will end this “review” with one thing that pissed me off for some reason.

so, maybe the 6th or 7th song in, the music, vocals and everything stops, and the chick from Paramore goes “hey guys, can i get in on this?”  to which they both go “yeah, totally!!!!!”  chick from Paramore sings the chorus part, dude from Fargo is super lamed out.  overall the record was full of “guest performances” similar to that of a mainstream hip hop record.  you’d think that something like that would be kind of cool!

it wasn’t.