SCHOOLYARD HEROES
The Funeral Sciences (The Control Group)
Reviewed by Holly Day

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So it's not a brand new formula, but they sure make it sound cool and original. Schoolyard Heroes is noisy, angular, punk rock with weird math rock chord progressions and unexpected changes in tempo, with songs about B-movie subjects, like the dead coming back to life and people turning into werewolves. The female lead sounds almost cheerleader-like in her poppy tone and pitch-my husband even walked in half-way through this record and said, "This band could easily write songs for dopey teen movies"-while the male singer sounds more traditional gruff emo/punk/shouty and not particularly melodic. I like it, partly just because the geek in me can't help liking an album that has song titles like "Michael Dudakoff: American Ninja" and "The Mechanical Man Vs. The Robot From the Outer Limits."

© 2004 - Holly Day