Search - Pretty Girls Make Graves :: New Romance

Very good but...

Matthew Gross | Nanuet, NY United States | 09/16/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First thing first, this blows 99% of whats being called punk straight out of the water. That said, it's no "Good Health" either. I was hooked on that album within the first five seconds. When I first bought this, I was more than ready to write a two star review for an album that deserves so much more. A few days later I decided I should raise it to a three. Now that I'm finally getting around to this, its about 4 and a half stars. This album's production is a little to clean for my personal taste (just about half a step left of Mark Trombino) which is very dissapointing from the man that produced more than one of my top ten albums of all time. It does not burn out of the gates the way Good Health does. However, by the third listen, I began to look past all of this to the actual songs which are at least as good as the last album and the clean sound has to be as much about tighter playing as it does of anal production. The playiong on "All Medicated Genuises" is worth the price of the disc alone. So am I happy that one of my favorite bands focused all their chaotic engery into this slick little album? I guess so. Another good health wouldv'e been a waste of my time anyway. Chances are if I waited another week I probably would have given this 5 stars."

Soulful, edgy, and honest

ifshecouldspeak | 09/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Pretty girls make graves are an impressive band. They sounded nothing like i imagined after reading about them. They are not punk. This album is not agressive. There are some driving beats and some awesome guitar work but its all used sparingly, in a low-key kinda way.This album is a beatuful work and has been glued to my stereo since i got it. The vocals are excellent and move from eerie-soft spoken vocals to half shouted post-hardcore outbursts. The bass is excellent and high up in the mix, which is nice. The guitars are used sparingly and do not overshadow the other instruments. Imagine the Red Hot chilli's style of guitar. But more rock. The drum beats are excellent and always interesting. The keyboards are great. I hate keyboards but they fit this album perfectly. What do they sound like? Its hard to describe. Download a song and hear for yourself. Soulfull female vocals, driving basslines, pounding yet fresh drums, eerie keyboards and squealing/rocking guitars. Every track is different and intersting. This is the freshest music i have heard in a long time. For fans of , post-harcore , rock , emo (even tho it mostly sux), electronic-rock, and anything with a bit of soul."

Amazing progression over impressive debut

Jason Macierowski | Worcester, MA United States | 09/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

""New Romance" is a pretty impressive expansion over PGMG debut cd. The trademark ripping guitar edges and impassioned vocal delivery are still there, but along with it, is quite a lot of other details. Pretty much every song on the album has some sort of other sound whether it's piano, synth, drum machine etc.. but it's not simply tacked on top but actually woven into the song structure. Along with additional instrumentation there's a lot more space on this album and the songs breathe more than on the first. It's as if they still kept listening to Fugazi but someone had slipped a few Can albums into the tourbus over the past year. The songs are incredibly developed and instruments bounce in and out yet somehow the energy manages to stay strong consistantly - as if they figured only which parts were absolutely necessary for each section of a song and kept only those. A damn impressive feat considering how much the band has been touring lately and couldn't have had that much downtime to spend on producing an incredibly, played, recorded and thought-out album."