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Album Review: Sorority Noise's You're Not As ____ As You Think

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    by Web manager
  • Post Date
    Mon Apr 03 2017

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Author: Joey 
Marz
Connecticut emo rockers Sorority Noise first grabbed my attention in 2014 with their full-length debut, Forgettable. Songs like “Dirty Ickes” and “Still Shrill” were at the same time in-your-face emotional and catchy. Clocking in at only 22 minutes, the album's major downside was that it didn't feel like a full-length release. The band's 2015 sophomore effort, Joy Departed, traded in the punk energy of the first album for more gentler, ballad-y moments. Where Forgettable ended too quickly, JoyDeparted, dragged on too long, with bursts of their punk roots few and far between. A mostly acoustic 2016 EP, It Kindly Stopped for Me, seemed to fully pull the chord on the band's energy.

This made “No Halo,” the first single released off of the band's third album, You're Not As ____ As You Think, so surprising. The relentless rhythm of the track was much more reminiscent of Forgettable than anything the band released since.

Needless to say, I was stoked for this new album.

Although I still believe that Forgettable contains the majority of the band's best songs, You're Not As ____ As You Think is the band's overall best album to date. Front man Cameron Boucher seems to have taken a much more holistic approach to songwriting, with cohesive themes of loss, depression, and persevering in the face of both present throughout. And although the album does feature several slower tracks, they feel much less melodramatic here than on previous releases. One such track is “Leave the Fan On,” the penultimate song on the record and a highlight of the album, with atmospheric guitar reminiscent of Brand New's The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me and Daisy.

This is the album I've been hoping Sorority Noise would write one day, and I wouldn't be surprised if it winds up on several year-in-review lists come December.

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