Dismissed

Item: Taking the Good with the Bad
Author: Luke Harlow

Taking the Good with the Bad

(2003)

Reviewed by Luke Harlow

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Label Indie Vision MusicDecapolisJuly 2003

emo indie rock melodic hardcore punk

Dismissed are a four-piece band with a style that falls into the nebulous "indie-punk-sort-of-thing" realm. They have been around for roughly three years and hail from southern California. "Taking the Good with the Bad" is the band's first full-length and the first release by Indie Vision Music.

Without question, the scene has experienced a glut of emotional punk bands in recent years. Those that have seen and experienced the ebb and flow of underground trends over the last decade - pop punk in the early to mid 1990s, then ska, then "metal," and now "rock-indie-emo-core-punk" - ought to be asking themselves how much longer people are going to want to hear some guy singing at the top of his vocal range.

Like many bands before, Dismissed are attempting to carve out a place for themselves in the emotional punk genre. Only time will tell how lasting their appeal will be and what levels of success they might achieve, but in "Taking the Good with the Bad," they are off on solid footing. Is this album groundbreaking? No. Is it terribly exciting? No. Do the lyrics offer any memorable lines that critical listeners will find themselves reflecting on? Probably not.

In spite of all this, however, Dismissed show plenty of promise on this album. If nothing else, the songs are all pretty catchy; the band demonstrates a real ability to craft tunes that ought to pique plenty of listeners' interest. Their songs are guitar-driven and, notwithstanding the opening acoustic guitar/piano track, incorporate a new school punk flavor with a healthy dose of harmonic-laden, metal-style riffing. A new school punk band, however - like a No Use For a Name or a Slick Shoes - Dismissed are not. The lead vocals are the sort of forceful, melodic fare one might expect from the "emotional" camp (many times exceedingly forced, if not off-key), but the sporadic screaming that appears on nearly every song offers a nice change of pace. Mostly, the lyrics are vague and personal, but they attempt to tackle serious issues and find ways to express evangelical sentiments without resorting to cliché.

On the whole, Dismissed is a band that will probably merit serious attention in the future; without question, "Taking the Good with the Bad" is a fine stab at a first record and they demonstrate promise. Dismissed should be proud of their work to date, but not complacent. It will be interesting to see how this band develops and what future efforts might offer.

B-