Planeside – Milk / 2006 Exotic / 10 Tracks / http://www.planeside.com / http:///www.purevolume.com/planeside / Reviewed 26 March 2006

Planeside starts off their “Milk” with a blend of styles that tie together the powerful arena rock of Foo Fighters with the dominant emo rock movement in popular music. Thus, during “My Sweet Revenge”, individuals’ heads bob as the emotive force of Dave’s vocals tie listeners in for the long haul. “Aunt Polly’s Dream” makes Planeside into an even-more powerful act, aligned more along the axis of Sum 41 than anything else.

Each of the songs essentially would be perfect for the radio, without anything major in the way of fixes needed to make this album something that will be pandered to the masses. What separates Planeside from all of the other bands that are trying to make a name for themselves in popular rock is that Planeside includes segments of each song that focus on all three members. This means during “Like A Habit” has a tremendously strong bass presence that cannot be denied, while the drums kick around regardless of the musical landscape. The strong, confident brand of rock is what comes forth during the vast majority of tracks on “Milk”, but that does not preclude Planeside from creating a tender track (such as is the caser with “El Rodeo”) that will titillate listeners with the technical virtuosity shown by the band. Even the fact that a track is late on the disc’s order (“Going To Grilder”) does not stop Planeside from creating or grafting another new style with their music. This is shown in “Going To Grilder” by including a Tool-influenced guitar line at the relevant times during this track. Throwing in a different-sounding guitar line to the mix for this song, Planeside ensures that individuals will not grow weary of the band even at the last gasps of the CD.

While all of the tracks are groomed especially for rock radio, there is nothing here that is quite as memorable as something that has been put out by Fall Out Boy or Franz Ferdinand; all the tracks are fun and driving, but there is that little something missing that would catapult the band to the next level. “Milk” shows that the band knows that the band knows exactly how to make a great album, so hopefully Planeisde can come into the studio for their follow-up to this album and work on crafting tracks that will break them large and put their faces on TV in 2007 or 2008.

Top Tracks: El Rodeo, Two Messages

Rating: 6.4/10

[JMcQ]