Harbour Grace - Placid
The new Harbour Grace CD, Placid, opens with the gruff, distorted bass of Dan Robinson and soon kicks in with an aggressive tone familiar in the Western MA rock scene. But instead of Cookie Monster vocals and down tuned seven-string guitars, Harbour Grace decides to incorporate tasteful melodies with their heaviness. And it works very well. Darin Almeida's voice is a cross somewhere between Aaron Lewis and Maynard James Keenan. And in a delightful twist, he sings rather than screams his lyrics. Don't get me wrong, screaming definitely has its place in rock and metal. But it seems too many bands in the area are quick to develop a metal-core vocal style over any guitar with distortion. It's a nice change of pace to hear a local band from Western MA that works hard to write good melodies and hooks to their songs.
Personally, I would have liked a more uptempo tune like the title track 'Placid' to open the CD with. But clocking in at just under seven minutes it's easy to see why the band chose not to. Still, 'Placid' is a great heavy pop song with a very catchy chorus. This is a song that could easily be on the radio now.
The song, 'Too Far Gone,' plays with both heavy and subtle tones and gives a glimpse into a personal struggle that is easy to relate to. While 'And I Wait' is almost a psychodelic jam save for Almeida's modern rock vocal styling.
Most of the CD contains more mellow rock with hints of metal thrown in for good measure. But it is certainly not lacking emotion. The only real complaint I have about the album is the production itself. I would have loved a more prominent drum sound. The kick drum is often drowned out by the rest of the band, giving the songs less energy. Dan Teichert is a good player and it would be nice to hear a bit more of him on the disc.
For more information on the band, check out their site at www.harbourgrace.net
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