Reggie gives us the Full Effect
This album is a mess! It's got so many styles on the one album, it almost fails to make any impact. Just looking at the song titles like 'What the Hell is Contempt' and 'Deathnotronic', you have to wonder just what the music's going to be like. And it sounds like... well, a cod-emo-electronic-industrial-rock eccentric mess with the occasional Neolithic metal tune thrown in, that really could've benefited perhaps from better production. And that's just the start. For all that, it's hard not to like it.
Let's start with the first song, 'What the Hell is Contempt'. There's no denying that it has a great riff, with its creepy, fairground styling that adds an extra edge. This song is one part rock 'n' roll, one part death metal, one part emo, and I'm still not sure I like this no matter how many times I listen to it despite it having a great tune. The death metal vocals used are really out of place, although the Americanised sung ones aren't much better.
But when track two rolls around, I'm in for a surprise: it’s almost entirely emo (there's some truly cheesy keyboard at the start). With a title like 'Get Well Soon' and a legacy of Dewees' time in The Get-Up Kids, I suppose I should've seen it coming however, surprisingly, it's pretty likeable. That is probably down to the ominous sound of the verse and lyrics like 'You've got a lot to do before I let you stay/There's things you need to see, and things you need to say'. Having said that, there's so much energy, you're kind of picked up and swept along.
And, so Reggie changes tack again, going heavier for 'What the Hell is Stipulation' and 'Caving' grinding metal guitars to good effect. Alright, it's still got that emo twist but diluted to the extent it's almost unrecognisable. Given that this record is about his break-up with his wife, these are two rather playful songs. On 'Caving', Dewees keyboard talents come to the fore on a piano that most emo boy bands would kill for, then disappears to make way for the guitars.
The thing about this 'Songs not to Get Married to' is that it's packed with quality songs. Virtually every song requires its own special mention, but there are some which need it more than others. 'The Trooth' and 'Thanks for the Misery', are two of those. 'The Trooth' is pure death metal from the grunting to the prehistoric guitars. It strikes me as rather bizarre that they are until I read on the press release that it features previous collaborators Common Denominator and Hungary Bear. 'Thanks for the Misery' is so sad, it makes me want to cry. You end up feeling so sorry for Dewees, as he pours his heart out on this frank and honest melancholy song.