Rosematter - Real Big Time

Rosematter - Real Big Time / 2006 Lobster / 12 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/rosematter / http://www.lobsterrecords.com / Reviewed 07 June 2007

Overall Rosematter is a young and fun pop punk band that shows promise once they get some more recording under their belt. The quality of their work is pretty high caliber. Very good recording, nice little techniques are used throughout that can be expected of bands on their fifth album. Though it seems obvious at the surface to compare them to Paramore due to youth and the rarely used complete female lead vocals, Rosematter brings something completely different to the table upon further investigation. Singer Katie brings a voice of a total different style; it is very solid�nice control and not just another peppy soprano rocker chick. Her sound is a bit more raw and genuine. Go alto, go! The sound jumps from bouncy and fun pop jams to a calmer more emotional feel with a decent level of ease. Guitars always work well together throughout the album, either contrasting or compliments but always appreciated.

It starts in the intro, with the 2 guitars complimenting nicely and setting up a nice first impression for the other eleven tracks. The first impression begins to prove itself truer in a nice transition into "It's Little Too Late For Waves". The lyrics are a little bit too juvenile and I think that they could be stepped up quite a bit seeing as they are just not on the level with the rest of the album. Obvious rhymes put in perfect couplets wear thin fast. A bit of redemption was earned in "I'd Like to Thank the Academy" with much more lyrical freedom. Vacating super structured rhyming works out very well for you in this song! I loved the ambient break; it is a nice pure display of vocals and one of my more favored tracks on 'Real Big Time'. It leads into "The Legend of Gene Wilder" which immediately reminded me of the opening of a Matchbook Romance song. But the similarity was broken a few seconds later by a unique use of cymbals that I enjoyed.

By far, and maybe for a personal relation reason, my favorite song was "The Blackest Snow Falls on London". Anyone like myself who has lost someone extremely near and dear will share my view on the track. I value the acoustic break the album stops to take here. My only complaint would be that the vocal intensity could have been toned down a bit to match the vibe of the song, but the work overall doesn't suffer much because of it. I love how the ending dissipates into the same music as the intro of the song.

Can't wait to hear your growth on the next album!

Top Tracks: The Legend of Gene Wilder, The Blackest Snow Falls on London

Rating: 7.0/10

[Charlie]