Reviewed by Sammy Horner

The fifth in the series, and quite frankly these albums ain't gettin' any better with experience. During my years of running Impact Arts Fest I was constantly delighted to hear young bands' demos getting better every year and if that can be done on a recording budget of a few hundred quid then surely these guys can improve on this stuff. Then again, maybe the fault isn't so much with the production or even the material (although we've heard "As The Deer" and "Unto Thee O Lord" on a few albums, eh?) but rather with arrangement. When you consider what guys like old Ishmael have given us, the US of A still lacks a lot of imagination and sparkle no matter how big the budget for their kids stuff. I was going to say that on the plus side there are a ton of songs on this album, but after listening to the first 10 tracks, I'm not so sure that it is a plus! Wonder when Carman is meeting up with Lawrence again?

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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