Misprint

Item: Another Broken Promise
Author: Eric Daams

Another Broken Promise

(1998)

Reviewed by Eric Daams

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Label Day-Glo RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2000

alternative rock emo hardcore punk punk

A couple of days ago, I was reading a Phantom Tollbooth review of another Day-Glo Records' band. The reviewer noted how, because the lyrics were in Swedish, the band would lack potential for a wider audience. Receiving Misprint's Another Broken Promise left me with the same feeling. Except that Misprint sings in English! The problem is, no lyrics are provided (besides a few select lines from some songs). Not only that, the poor production pretty much destroys every chance of hearing what the vocalist is saying, blotting out his vocals against the pounding musical landscape.

The album begins in an interesting way, to say the least, with a police chase of a crazed lunatic driving a tank across the streets of San Diego. Suddenly, the recording breaks off, and the title track blasts through eardrums at a frighteningly high level.

Production is at an all-time high in the first verse (for this record's standards) but then all chance of understanding the words is lost to the intense guitaring and loud drums. In itself, this track is fine, but this is where we end up with the next problem. Each song sounds so similar, you can barely tell them apart! It reminds me of Starflyer 59, without the hushed, but prominent, vocals that set that band apart as truly great. The album continues with song after song blending into each other and eventually becoming tiring and monotonous. There are, however, the occasional pleasant bass grooves and tight guitar work, to give the band at least a little bit of credit. But these are few and far between, and barely worth the wait.

Another Broken Promise is exactly what its title says. Misprint is a promising band, but they really need to work on the creative aspect of their music, instead of just going for the driving, intense, hard, fast rock that this album presents in an overdose. And while they're working on that, maybe they could clean up the production a bit as well.

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