My voice teacher a few years ago always criticized me for sliding up and down to notes.
"It's not in the music, it's lazy," she said. She used to be a marine before getting into opera singing and community college teaching, so I shut up and did what she wanted.
But the lead singer for The Snake the Cross the Crown, I guess, can do whatever he wants, seeing as how it's his band's music. Having slogged through many a modern rock album with singers who can't hold notes, it's nice to hear David Garza-like trilling, Mark Lanegan-like swooping up and down, and the high-pitched harmonies that so many light-emo kids dig these days.
His voice fits the material well, a mixture of either sweet acoustic guitar and rocking electric guitar, drums and bass — depending on the song. Two brothers and their three bandmates give nice keyboard touches, pleasant vocal harmonies and tinkling to power up what are often not-too-catchy, but very listenable tunes. You can hear the band's interest in atmosphere on the last few tracks, where they let the slowly building intros bulk up the track times. This album's songs don't stand much chance on the radio, but the CD overall is a good listen with lots of variety for fans of light alternative rock. It ranges from the sweet, shambling rock of "A Gathering of Shade" to the sweet, acoustic tale of "A Brief Intermission" to the quick-rhythmed, harmonious "On the Threshold of Eternity."
This is another interesting gem from a gem of an underground-music label.
The Snake the Cross the Crown Mander Salis
