Sixty 8 - Before The Fall
Sixty 8 is an American rock band, that debuts with their first full length Before The Fall. They already have had some media attention prior to this release. Their song 'Over' for example was played in over 6000 theaters across the US prior to Spiderman 3. Quite the accomplishment for a band that is just getting its feet wet!
It doesn’t occur too often, but the accompanied press sheet actually hit the nail on its head when they mention the musical style of Sixty 8. I quote: “Sixty 8 sounds like a band you’ve heard before, but you can’t figure out who it is”. And that’s absolutely the case here! Sixty 8 plays an unoriginal mix of all kind of rock influences. Their music ranges from eighties rockbands to nineties grungebands and from softrock to nowadays US college radio rock darlings. Sometimes I think I have a Daughtry clone in my hands, but with the next song they sound almost like an incarnation of Jon Bon Jovi (people who expected a heavy rock band can stop reading now, because heavy rock is almost nowhere to be found here).
Before criticizing the band I want to mention the vocals of Tryg Bundgaard. He has a very versatile voice. He is capable of giving his voice just the correct amount of emotion and is also technically sound. It’s just too bad that the mediocre production almost kills his voice. After the first couple of spins in my car stereo I hadn’t noticed it, but when I played the album at my home stereo it was clear that production wise it’s not all well with Before The Fall. It almost seems like the music is recorded with the amplifiers covered with cushions. I think that in the mix the vocals could’ve used a bit more volume and also the guitars are mixed in too softly. In my opinion a rock album has to rock and partly because of the production, it just doesn’t!
This is not the only problem. As mentioned, Sixty 8 uses a lot of various rock influences. This is excellent for the diversity of the album, but because of this, Sixty 8 doesn’t have a face of its own. If I have to typify them in this stage of their career, I would say that they are a mediocre clone of various rockbands with an above average singer. They show some nice energy with opener ´Blood Red Sky’, but songs like ‘Better Days’ are just plain awful.
Tracklisting
1. Blood Red Sky
2. Interactive
3. Any Race Of Man
4. Over
5. Better Days
6. The Race Goes On
7. I Won�t Play
8. All She�s Ever Known
9. Alone
10. Confessions
11. Killing Time
12. Shadow
2. Interactive
3. Any Race Of Man
4. Over
5. Better Days
6. The Race Goes On
7. I Won�t Play
8. All She�s Ever Known
9. Alone
10. Confessions
11. Killing Time
12. Shadow
Line up
Tryg Bundgaard � Vocals
Kurt Schwartz � Guitars & Vocals
James Lee Humes � Guitars
Brett Eurich � Drums
Paul Asher York - Bass
Kurt Schwartz � Guitars & Vocals
James Lee Humes � Guitars
Brett Eurich � Drums
Paul Asher York - Bass