Released: 2011

Reviewed by: Neil Christian

Rating: 4.2 (Out of 10)

[xrr rating=4.2/10]

Nowadays frequent the numerous message boards, blogs, chat rooms, reviews and it is quite common to see the artists’ being blamed for the lack of classic albums being produced today. However, the blame lies equally with the iPod-totting listener and the “Vanilla Ice” rappers. A definition of a classic album is that the album still sounds fresh after the 100^th listen, just like it did on the 1^st listen. These albums are timeless. Back only a decade ago, the monthly allowance only allowed the purchase of 1 or 2 albums a month. These albums used to live in the boom box for months on end, until the tape would itself wear out and you had memorized every word and nuance of every song.

However by contrast, in today’s age we can download hundreds of albums and songs a day and so artists have understandably shifted from keeping our attention to capturing our attention. We, the listeners, are to blame for this.

In lieu with the previous sentiments, this album perfectly captures everything that is wrong with us and our listening habits. The album is upbeat with modern beats made to leave you neck-less, mixed with loads of auto-tune to stay relevant, catchy hooks and simple rhymes, all for the listener to consume in one hit and then forget. This album did not live in my cd player at all.

The beats on this project are your typical upbeat, full of synths and 808’s radio-friendly joints. There are a couple of slow beats that are quite reminiscent of Drake and 4s0 such as Hello Goodbye & Don’t Label Me. They are well produced; there is no denying that. However by the end of the 5^th song, they all had meshed into one sound and it was quite a drag to keep listening to the whole project.

The Drake biting comparisons continue with the sing/rap combination that is employed on the album. From Merry Go Round to Follow, that combination does not work simply because Point5 is not a good singer and mixing in auto-tune to help correct the singing is not the recipe for success. This brings me to the main aggravation of the album.

There is auto-tune on 12/14 songs. The effect is not just used on the chorus or to correct the pitch of the singers; it is used on the verses and for delivered raps. If it was 2009, this blatant blunder could be excused. However this is 2012 and there is no excuse to be using auto-tune so widely in the album. It is unoriginal and gimmicky. It gets tiring very quickly and was a chore to continue to listen to the project. The mixing on the project is also shoddy with the vocals sometimes being too quiet and sometimes too loud, the mixes on the instrumentals are off as the synths are sometimes overwhelmingly loud.

Ultimately this album reflects our time and the taste of the listeners. The audience does not want to listen to music anymore. They want a quick high and are jumping around from highs to highs, quite similar to conference Christians. This album is perfect for someone who likes singles but for those who appreciate music; you will have to go somewhere else. The artist is not to blame for a forgetful album, the listener is.

Comprehensive Ratings:

Rating – 4.2

1. Music – 5

2. Flow – 5           

3. Creativity / Originality – 1
4. Relevancy – 3
5. Content & Character – 4
6. Credibility & Confidence – 5
7. Personality – 5
8. Presentation Quality – 6
9. Overall Production Quality – 5
10. Potential Impact – 3