AUTHORITY ZERO
A Passage In Time (Lava Records)
Reviewed by Holly Day

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This album typifies what Peter Murphy once described to me as the absolute formula of American alternative music: soft start, explode, soft interlude, explode, abrupt finale. Just about all of the songs fall into that format: the opening track starts out with some gentle acoustic guitar jangling, then explodes into some really fast, Bad Religion-ripoff-esque singing and playing, then slows down halfway through to some restrained droning and chanting, then speeds back up again, and ends. The second song is the same, as is the third, ad nauseum - I mean, I suppose the band could be getting tired two minutes into the song and have to take a little musical nap, but to repeat the formula again and again? Maybe they should just write shorter songs so they could sustain the energy all the way through.

© 2003 - Holly Day