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Send Me to The End
Berman
By Steven Gradess
A track-by-track, first impression dissection of Berman's
new CD by Stevie G.
Track 1. "Over and Over" — The opening track is quite
interesting, the hard rock, cacophonous sound is captivating. The lyrics
are all right, too, I might add. The "sound" is parts hard
rock, grunge and metal rolled into one, reminiscent of many of the quintessential
modern, alternative, (add your one genre word here) bands, bordering
on the heavier, rockier side of these sort of bands. They seem to place
a premium of their musicianship as well as their lyrics, striking a
pretty good mix.
2. "Send Me to the End" — The second track, the title
track "Send Me to the End", is certainly nothing earth-shattering,
but a pleasant hard-rocking tune. A good song to have in the background
while having a drink and chomping down on some funions at your local
hard rock establishment that would play this kind of stuff.
3. "Why Am I Still Here" — A good guitar riff and kickin'
drums propels this lyrically sound foray. So far, the group seems to
pull off some decent lyrics that seem slightly familiar but are neither
trite nor derivative. A stereotypical melodic guitar interlude in the
middle of the song adds a nice retro feel to the song.
4. "My Darker Side" — A Kurt Cobain-like intro leads
into a Metallica-esque lick and then into the meat of this semi-melodic
rocker ballad interspersed with intermittent hard rock pulses to pull
off the old semi-ballad, not quite a full ballad and not quite a fast
song either. Tain't bad. If this CD were on in the background, I don't
think I would be too annoyed by it, except for the occasionally too
loud music spurts. The slow fade away to this song adds a nice touch.
5. "Soundtrack to Nothing" — This song would be a little
loud for my mother, but if she were in the room, I don't think we would
have the CD on in the first place, so we're OK. If you are over 30,
having a remote nearby to adjust the volume down a bit as you listen
to some of the grungier, louder songs wouldn't be a bad idea. So far,
it does look like this CD is actually pretty good.
6. "The End of Me" — The obligatory heartfelt, slow-turning-slightly-heavier
as it goes along song is not really doing too much for me, but they
can't all be gold. But don't fret, unless you are required to listen
to this song very intently for some Ph.D. research project, you will
get through it unscathed, despite any clichés trampled on during
its making.
7. "Everything" — Ah, back to the hard intro, let's
see what we've got here. Why, this song rocks! I could fathom a bit
of grooving and/or head bobbing during this song. Lead vocalist Guy
Jettman is certainly a more than adequate front man for this genre of
music. Rock on, Jett! Why, I have no major bone to pick with any of
the musicianship so far on this CD.
8. "Rain" — A stripped down track, reminiscent of Toad
The Wet Sprocket or something like that. Not too bad at all. I could
imagine this being a good chick track.
9. "All the World" — It's the second to the last track
on the CD, time to let it all hang out. Well, actually this track is
full of thoughtful lyrics punctuated by hard musical interjections,
which is an uplifting, rocking tune fitting for a penultimate "denouement"
song. If one had been listening to this album as background music, one's
ears would certainly have piped up and said, "Hmm, who was that,
that was pretty good."
10. "In Hands" — OK now, for the last track, they are
slowing it down, adding some violins, and showing off their ability
to branch out from just the grungy guitar and slamming drums. Of course,
the grunge does return at the end, but it's a nice change of pace in
the beginning. If we don't take this song too seriously, I think it
works.
And now, the summary: Overall, good show, men. You've kept rock alive
for another day with a solid effort, worthy of a listen in any and all
available media forms and venues. Keep up the good work.
Random Gang Productions, 2006
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