Artist Info:Discography Album length: 12 tracks: 40 minutes, 55 seconds Street Date: May 24, 2005
Amber Pacific, an emo-punk quintet from Federal Way, WA, follow up their
Fading Days EP with The Possibility and the Promise on Hopeless
Records. Having released their EP in 2004, Amber Pacific look to expand their sound with a
full-length debut in 2005.
With most of Amber Pacific's members barely out of their teens, one should expect to find a
youthful burst of punk energy right from the start and The Possibility and the Promise
doesn't disappoint. The album opens with the blazing guitars and inventive breakdowns of
"Everything We Were Has Become What We Are" and follows it up with the hook-laden "Poetically
Pathetic." These songs' combination of straightforward punk and catchy choruses mimics Relient K
at its best, while "Gone So Young" features a radio-ready chorus that follows up these first two
nicely.
While The Possibility and the Promise opens with a promising trio of songs, it's
unfortunate that the rest of the album doesn't hold up. The problem? First of all, Amber Pacific
is young and falls into the trap of repeating itself too often. Pop-punk (as a genre) is formulaic
and simplistic enough to begin with, and it's hard for Amber Pacific to sustain its momentum without
most of the album sounding the same. Although the band tries to mix it up a little (introducing
pianos on "If I Fall"), the band appears to run out of new ideas less than halfway through the
album. (On that note, is that the melody to the worship song "My Life Is In You Lord" on the guitar
break for "Always You (Good Times)?") The second problem is that the rest of the songs simply
aren't strong enough to stand out and grab the listener's attention. The melodies are too bland
and the choruses aren't memorable enough to make The Possibility and the Promise anything
more than a forgettable album in the end.
To make matters worse, this album isn't very lyrically mature either. While emo bands have a
certain inalienable right to sing about personal relationship woes, it still takes a level of tact
to avoid sounding too sappy or emotional in the process. Amber Pacific is unabashedly emo, as their
song titles suggest ("Save Me From Me" and "The Sky Could Fall Tonight," etc), so it's no surprise
that most of this album is lyrically focused on girls. This would be fine if the sentiments
expressed in these songs were wistful or endearing in any way, but too often the band relies on
trite and clichéd expressions to carry their emotion. The worn-out pleadings of "The Right To Write
Me Off" ("Can we make this last forever? / Remember how we used to be?") lacks any serious
depth while the high school sentiments of "The Sky Could Fall Tonight" ("If the sky should fall
tonight / I will be here at your side") are forgivable only by the fact that this band is just
a few years removed from actual high school.
As the first few songs suggest, this band might have what it takes to stand out from the crowd
and write really good songs. However, their songwriting will have to improve (both musically and
lyrically) in order to truly separate themselves from the Stellar Kart's and Simple Plan's of the
world. For pop-punk fans, this band isn't horrible, just terribly bland and uninteresting -
something that more age and experience are sure to fix.
- Review date: 5/23/05, written by Sherwin Frias
Record Label: Hopeless Records
Album length: 12 tracks, 40 minutes and 55 seconds
Street Date: May 24, 2005
Buy It:Amazon.com
Record Label: Hopeless Records
