A Nice Surprise: Dead Letter Circus

1	Here We Divide
2	One Step
3	Big
4	The Space on the Wall
5	The Long Hour
6	Cage
7	Reaction
8	The Drum
9	The Design
10	Next in Line
11	Walk
12	This Is the Warning

I love it when people on the internet are aware of my musical tastes and recommend bands and CDs to me. Yesterday somebody told me to check out Dead Letter Circus's debut LP, This Is the Warning. The first thing I thought was "What a horrible band name", but of course just like you shouldn't judge a book by its' cover, you especially shouldn't judge a band by their name (See: Tool, dredg).

So after acquiring the album I started it up rather quickly as I had nothing to do all day but listen to music. Thirty seconds into the opening song "Here We Divide" I knew the recommendation would be somewhat worth it. As the final seconds faded out, the recommendation was ever so appreciated. What was I hearing?! This is amazing! I had to do more research, and upon looking around a bit, I found they were UNSIGNED, which then brought me to realize that this may be one of the best unsigned bands you'll ever hear.

So what does it sound like? It sounds like a mix between dredg, Incubus, Karnivool, Strata and more name drops that I can't put my finger on. It's the most refreshing alternative rock album I've heard in a very, very long time. There are electronics going on, vivid reverb guitar leads, energetic bass and drum rhythms, unbelievably dramatic and catchy choruses all at the same time, and one hell of a vocalist.

The album isn't very diverse but that is actually one of the more fun qualities about it, and I'm sure that like with most bands, any future releases will have a bit more depth and diversity. What is almost shocking about this record is that although it is very samey throughout, each song is great, one after another.

I now pass this recommendation on to you. Listen to this and enjoy it. I don't think many people can dislike this. It's just not possible.

Favorite songs: "Here We Divide", "One Step", "Walk"