Various Artists - Take Action Volume 5

Take Action Volume 5 is the latest in a series of compilations produced by Sub City Records supporting organizations that engage the social issues affecting the label’s youthful base of listeners. Benefiting Kristen Brooks Hope Center/Yah! The Youth America Hotline, the project contains two discs of material from many of the most notable acts in rock, punk, emo, indie and hardcore. While the tracks featured contain an energy sure to resonate with their intended audience, the album suffers from a lack of sustainable originality. For every song that burns with a spark of invention, three or four sound-alikes are sure to follow. Though Disc 1 starts admirably with Underoath’s “I Don’t Feel Very Receptive Today”, and features quality tracks by Sugarcult, Amber Pacific, Plain White T’s and Cartel, it is by far the weakest of the album’s halves. Consistently disappointing cuts from bands thought to be on the forefront of alternative rock (Panic! At the Disco, Hawthorne Heights, Emery) inhibit any otherwise initiated momentum. A trio of sub-par cuts from Horse the Band, The Number Twelve Looks Like You and As I Lay Dying close the disc, causing one to wonder if the lag would seem as pronounced had these similar tracks been spaced throughout the track list. Disc 2 fares better by comparison, opening with “The Warrior’s Code” from the always-entertaining Dropkick Murphys. This portion of the project is paced more evenly and features more variety. For example, the fury of Against Me!, indie drive of Lucero and throwback charisma of The Horrorpops each fare well when positioned sequentially. While the disckk contains a few throwaway cuts (see tracks by The Briefs, The Vacancy and the AKA’s), they are balanced out by quality songs from artists like Darker My Love, Maxeen and The Loved Ones. As a social project, the album succeeds in giving artists an opportunity to participate in outreach to fans. As a musical project, it fails to show the diversity and structure necessary to be artistically memorable. Still, with forty-three tracks (and two PSA’s), fans of the included genres should find enough to be satisfied. [www.takeactiontour.com]