A Boring New Day

Lately, it seems that it is easier to “borrow” the sound of a couple already popular bands. Then, dress yourself as if you were My Chemical Romance. Next, list a few cheesy 80’s metal/hard rock groups as influences, and come out with an album. At least, this is the formula that Stereotactic has devised with their latest release, The Dawning.The entire album sounds reminiscent of the Used mixed with Atreyu and Fallout Boy. Each song has the “perfect” blend of emotional singing, heart-wrenching, gut piercing screaming, and generic hardcore derived breakdowns to almost guarantee them being lost among thousands of bands who are doing the exact same thing. It would be easier if Stereotactic just repackaged the Used’s In Love and Death and released it as their own, it would have saved them studio time and money.

Stereotactic follows the standard screamo/indie formula to a T, with songs and titles that make no sense whatsoever, such as “The Fall of Max Cohen.” The acoustic track “Lost and Found” goes into a 80s-inspired rock and roll riff that doesn’t belong anywhere near the rest of the song. They even make sure to have a song with overly echo-delayed synthesized screaming in “Put It In Ink.” The title track, which starts out promising with a metal inspiration, falls quickly to generic, whiny screamo tactics. It seems that they tried too hard to stick with what already sells, instead of branching out on their own.

How is it that their self-expression sounds almost exactly the same as any number of other groups?