Compromises are good. Our country was founded on them. Our government and society is based on a system of checks and balances that demand compromise to work. At least it used to work.
Now, our system seems to be stumbling along in a balance of political likeness that promotes boring middle ground solutions and achieves nothing creative. .
Politicians have figured out how to keep themselves comfortable within that system, exactly opposite to what our forefathers sought: to change what was wrong and, through compromise, come up with solutions that pushed boundaries in every direction. Now we see government sessions and tax dollars wasted by old politicians with old ideas attempting to line their pockets. Likewise, Murfreesboro band The Compromise has managed to rehash and regurgitate old ideas in a blend of ridiculously uncompromising pop-punk sound designed to destroy the ears of your 13-year-old sister through her iPod headphones.
The sound on Teen Movie Soundtrack is clear, the tones are fine, and the recording is decent.
The music is something else. Words like taste, style and touch are simply not a part of this endeavor. Words like cheesy, contrived and cheap come to mind.
The instruments seem like they are all competing for maximum volume at all times. The only dynamic changes come when all the instruments do one of those completely overdone drop-out things that every band that sounds like this does so often.
Otherwise, distorted tones, mute picking, and punishingly loud drums relentlessly compete for a chance to obliterate your ear drums. This isn’t music, it’s a poor attempt at the creation of a money- generation machine. (I want one too, but I personally wouldn’t “compromise” my musical morals for one.)
The only saving grace is the vocals. Lead vocalist Brandon Bell has a clear, strong voice that sits well in the mix.
Unfortunately, he sounds like a mature vocalist, which clashes with what I would have expected considering the high-school-freshman-style music backing him.
Therefore, I would actually have to say the only saving grace of this CD is that it is incredibly short.
In addition, they have high energy, so if you like poppy teeny-bop punk, or maybe if you are 14 years old, then they might be your kind of thing live.