Folly

Resist Convenience is Folly’s follow up album to their first Triple Crown release, Insanity Later. The music on the album of the quintet from Sussex County, New Jersey can be described as Ska and Punk influenced Hardcore. PureGgrainAudio was able to obtain a pre-release promotional ‘copy protected’ (it will not play on computers, and some portable CD players. The actual release of course will) CD for review prior to the US release date on February 21, 2006.

The band is currently touring the Midwest and East Coast of the US. The CD release show will be in Randolph, New Jersey on March 10th. Bands they will be playing with on the tour include Fight Paris, Blackout Pact, Scarlet, the Esoteric, and others.

Folly is given 4 out of 5 for the music on the 34 minute Resist Convenience. The music, as mentioned before, is Hardcore with many elements of Ska and Punk. The Punk and Ska influences can be heard in the anthemic chants, the vocals (not all the vocals sound Punk, but many do), the nasal tone of the several lead bass lines, and many of the guitar riffs. Some songs such as “The Wake” and “Human Bodies” also have actual Ska and/or Punk sections in them, instead of only having a few stylistic elements.

All twelve songs are constantly energetic and fun to listen to. Because of the Ska and Punk influences there is a lot of diversity on the album. Some sections can compete with heavier bands such as Norma Jean, while others invoke thoughts of Rancid or other old-school punk/ska. Folly manages to maintain Resist Convenience’s cohesiveness despite this wide range of sounds. This is because all of the songs having all these elements mixed in them; there is no strictly ‘Punk,’ or ‘Ska’ song. If there were it would sound out of place and ruin the flow of the album.

As with most albums of this genre Resist Convenience is nothing too innovate or different. The songs are however well written and clever in how the styles are mixed.

For considerations specific to the band, Folly and Resist Convenience receive 1 out of 2. The attitude displayed on their website and myspace is one of informal silliness. According to their myspace, the band members are Hollywood characters Marty McFly, Derek Zoolander, and others. Their music sound like “Dog-shit in a tin can hurled at the NJ Turnpike!” The not so serious attitude is fun, and they do still get to the point: they have tour dates, news, and some lyrics on the sites (lyrics are only on myspace).

In this highly competitive genre it is difficult to see what kind of an edge Folly will have over others. Unless their live show is extraordinary they will not likely stick out from other hardcore bands at their shows.

The sound quality of this album gets 1½ out of 2. For the most part appropriate timbres and tones are used on Resist Convenience, and they are well mixed and leveled. The drum tones however, do not seem to be at the same quality as the rest of the instruments. The high hat and some cymbals are occasionally too loud, and the snare sometimes has a long noticeable ringing to it.

There is no ‘physical attributes’ mark in this review because the CD had none. Being a pre-release promotional copy protected disc, there was no accompanying insert, artwork, or CD design (black font with a standard text was used on a plain white CD). Since this is not the same physically as the CD that will be released, this mark will be omitted and the final mark will be an average of the other criteria’s.

With a final rating of 7 out of 10 (from 6.5 out of 9), Resist Convenience is an album worth buying if you enjoy Punk Hardcore. The songs are well written and fun to listen to. How the band will last over time is still to be seen.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Brooks Wuz Here
02. Bonfire Of The Manatees
03. False Evidence Appearing Real
04. Odds>Evens
05. Wake, The
06. Human Bodies
07. We Still Believe…
08. Historian
09. Broken
10. Forfeit Sundials
11. All The King’s Horses
12. Operation: Work: Lift-Face

Run Time: 34:18