2Cents – Lost At Sea / 2006 EastWest / 12 Tracks / http://www.2centsmusic.com / http://www.eastwestrock.com / Reviewed 03 August 2006

The style in which 2Cents starts off their “Lost At Sea” is something that is interesting; what they do with it after their start to “Lost At Sea” is not. The track “The Wedding Dress” may only be three minutes long, but the band makes it feel twice as long with a machine-like tendency to copy lines and paste them in at other parts of the track. What results is something that resembles most closely acts like Avenged Sevenfold; when the band can actually break away from this copying of their own content, the songs are actually pretty good.

The use of double bass drums and retrospective (to the time of hair metal) guitar riffs on “Lost In Sea” give 2Cents a classic sound, as well as linking them to acts like Slipknot in the present. There is a desire here by 2Cents to reach all of the fans that they possibly can, and chances are good that they can reach a high percentage of them. There are some tracks that just seem embarrassing; “Victims of Pop Culture” seems to show the same dominant culture-supporting straggle against the dominant culture to get a vital section of the populace. This happened when McLaren groomed the Sex Pistols back in 1976 and 1977, continued when Manson cut eir “Antichrist Superstar” in 1996, and is in full affect here with 2Cents in 2006. The track is still catchy, but is not at the quality that other tracks on the disc strive to. For example, the track that immediately follows “Victims of Pop Culture” is “Symptoms For Side Effects”, and it shows 2Cents as able to slightly change their style to more accurately reflect the nu-rock style that is popular currently.

This means that the track blends together 10 Years and Evens Blue to conceivably be the one huge hit for 2Cents on this disc. The band is able to cut an album that struggles against the mainstream while still using constructs and arrangements that are decidedly mainstream. While there are a few singles on this disc, 2Cents are able to create a solid album that does not have any straggles through the twelve cuts of “Lost at Sea”. I can forecast this act getting larger if the right media outlets cover them, but there is a good chance that they could get lost in the shuffle if that does not happen. If this is your cup of tea, pick it up.

Top Tracks: Symptoms For Side Effects, Crowd Control

Rating: 5.5/10

[JMcQ]