This sophomore album by Two-Thirty Eight finds them returning to their friendly, poppy fusion of
alternative rock, emo, and pop punk. Plenty of distortion and melodies wrapped up in decent songs,
with no extremes or anything very memorable. Most songs start soft and slow, then the guitars kick in,
build, and fill the speakers. It's stronger than their last effort, but Two-Thirty Eight still sound like dozens of indie bands out there right now.
Each song has a particularly strong phrasing of some solid truth or common experience. "To the Concerned" is about "things that make the head hang low." "A Beautiful Disease" deals with the difficulty in moving away from one's hometown--"there is everything but home beyond her borders." "Suitcases
for Always" muses "The world is bitter at both ends/And nothing makes you more become it quite like
running from it." "Far from Comfort" asks "What are the words but funny noises when there is no one
there to hear?" The album's stand-out track, though, is "You Made a Way for Moses," an acoustic song with gentle vocals and faded piano and orchestration back in the mix, as vocalist/bassist Chris Staples pleads "Jesus, you made a way for Moses - can you make one for me now?"
Fans who can't get enough of stuff like recent Plankeye, Sense Field, and most of the Deep Elm
bands should have a go at Matter Has a Breaking Point.
2.5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2000Reviewed by Todd BallardBox cars with cheap brakes made for accidents Improper maintenance has its consequences A fuse blows, a cord snaps Matter has a breaking point Flesh, like these, is a weak beam Likely to break under the slightest weight of temptation. twothirtyeight are as in touch with their music as they are with their spirituality. With lines like, "There is this beautiful disease in her parks and in her…HM Magazine #79Reviewed by Doug Van PeltThese guys keep cranking out the songs, and evolving in sound, as well. This emo band is discovering more and more the joys of pure pop heaven - mixing it, of course, with those lovely guitar tones you hear in the emo scene. If The Juliana Theory cannot prove the theory, I'm sure these guys can pull it off. The first two songs here, "Just Dropping (A Line)" and "To The Concerned" a simply gems…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by ConradEmo-pop rock. At first I was thinking this band was going to rock, but the first two songs fooled me. Following two rocking songs came five slow and boring songs - only one of which kept my attention either musically or lyrically. The album ends with a really good rocking song. If all their songs were the more upbeat style, I would have given them a B+. But the five slow songs in a row make this…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by Tom BastianWhen I first put in this CD I thought it was Local H. The beginning riff sounds exactly like a classic Local H tune. But that's basically just the intro to the first song, which is called "Just Dropping (a line)." Not sure if the band meant to do that or not, but at any rate it was pretty cool, and the song turned out to be a great tune. I guess these guys would fall into the whole emo rock…Decapolis 1999Reviewed by TimI like this band. They rock live and they rock on CD. This goes to show that not all emo music has to suck. They have great guitars, and drums. The songs aren't as catchy as I would like them to be, but nevertheless, they are still pretty darn good. B
