Benton Falls

Item: Guilt Beats Hate
Author: Tyler Baber

Guilt Beats Hate

(2003)

Reviewed by Tyler Baber

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Label Deep Elm RecordsDecapolisApril 2003

emo math rock post-hardcore

One gets the sense that Santa Rosa's Benton Falls wants, more than anything, to be heard. Guilt Beats Hate, the band's sophomore release on Deep Elm, is a sort of musical impression of the jealousy, rage, and bitterness one comes to expect from the releases of a theme label such as Deep Elm. Granted, the label's bands tend to be very talented, but nonetheless if you are on DE you may as well not fight it and be content with the label "emo."

Benton Falls is probably one of the few modern bands that might actually deserve the over used "emo" label, as they have the meticulous math-influenced guitar and melodic hard rock style vocals coupled with a few screams that pay homage to the D.C. bands that often get forgotten by the history-ignoring Hot Topic crowd. Still, I can't help but think that Benton Falls is not unlike some preteen middle child, starved for attention and busy trying to do so many things to get noticed that one doesn't know where to start looking. Michael Richardson's talents as a guitarist are obvious but one gets the sense that he isn't sure whether he should put more emphasis on his musicianship or his vocals, his meticulous playing is overshadowed by his far less distinct whiney "please call me melancholy" style moanings that fit better when the distortion is kicked in and there isn't anything else worth paying attention to. The bass and drums help round out the sound, and Benton Falls certainly sounds very full for a three-piece outfit, something that weighs heavily in the band's favor.

The lyrics are the typical modern rock bottled up angst, struggling with what brings true happiness and where did our relationship fail, blah blah blah. Take this line from "There's no 'F' in Team:" "Time flies when you're having fun/and my clock stopped when my hand dropped from yours/and you were gone." Sure, all their friends are writing bad poetry and singing it, but that's no excuse. If all their friends jumped from a bridge (Lord willing), would they? Guilt Beats Hate's strong points certainly lie more in the musicianship than in the lyrics and vocals, yet the production mixed with Richardson's non-singing put the emphasis more on the latter than the former.

As a middle child I can sympathize with not knowing what exactly to do to gain attention, especially when so many people seem to be doing the exact same thing as you. A little maturity in lyrics and vocal style could see good things in the future for Benton Falls, but Guilt Beats Hate is what we're all used to by now.