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Align

Sing Rock Rhythm Beats

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Sing Rock Rhythm Beats
Catalog:
SSS008
Formats:
Digital
Release Date:
1999
Release Notes:
OUT OF PRINT
Being longtime fans of bands like Quicksand, Helmet, Handsome, and Sensefield it made perfect sense for the label to support a release by Align. Former Sunday Flood bassist John McEwen relocating to Align's hometown of Minneapolis, MN and playing bass for the band also had something to do with it. So there you have it. Six songs that later positioned the band to sign to a major subsidiary and get a distribution deal through Tower Records. Then, they broke up.
Track List
  Name Time Popularity  
1. Big Brother Primo 00:00 0%  
2. Carrying 00:00 0%  
3. Simple Suggestion 00:00 0%  
4. Jigsaw Puzzles 00:00 0%  
5. Spent 00:00 0%  
6. Misguided 00:00 0%  
Reviews  
allmusic  

Sing.Rock.Rhythm.Beats. is a solid album from a band following the same path that groups such as Quicksand and Helmet helped pioneer in the early '90s. To Align's credit, the music feels less like blatant plagiarism and actually merits recognition for adeptly conveying the fine line between hardcore and indie rock. John McEwen's prominent bass presence keeps the album at a constant pace, always invading every moment of the album with low-end charisma uncommon for bands of this ilk. Jeremy Jessen's remarkably catchy vocalization forces the listener to pay attention to what Align so assuredly creates, and the way he can alter from an almost poppy singing voice to perky screaming is hard to resist. "Big Brother Primo" even takes time out for a guitar solo, which at first feels unnatural for a post-hardcore quartet such as Align, yet is kept relatively short and sweet. The more aggressive "Simple Suggestion" could easily become a scene anthem, and once again Jessen's eerily hypnotic melodies ensnare you, at least until the blistering hardcore screams that sum up the last minute of the song. "Spent" kicks off sounding like a rough garage recording, yet evolves into one of the album's best songs, while also happening to be the closest Align comes to sounding like Helmet, a group these four men certainly were influenced by. Throughout Sing.Rock.Rhythm.Beats. there is a vaguely mainstream texture that alludes to Align finding possible commercial success with future releases, and the bandmembers' balance of this pop feel with determined independent dedication to their craft makes for quite an enjoyable album.

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