Finch - What It Is To Burn

It is interesting how you come across bands some times. Often I hear about them from a friend or online. Or, as in the case of Finch, sometimes you hear about a band from a friend who heard about them from a friend who heard about them from a friend, and so on. When that happens, you get descriptions of the music that don't usually end up fitting the band because none of these people have actually heard the whole record. I was told that Finch was "like Thursday, but heavier" and so I totally dove into this album with certain expectations. Sadly, I was disappointed, although not in the music itself, but it just wasn't what I was looking for. It has been over a month since I wrote that first paragraph and in a way I am glad I waited because it has given me time to become very addicted to this album. If you’re like me and others I have talked to, this is the kind of album you don't want to admit to liking. It has such a commercial side to it that you want to dislike it, but sometime you just can't argue when you come across something truely good. What it is to Burn is exactly as advertised, "The perfect mix of pop-punk and hard rock". If you aren't into both of those genres, then I advise you stear clear. With the opening track "New Beginnings" Finch sets the tone for the whole album; aggressive pop-punk mixed with some hardcore aspects mainly being the singer's seemingly random fits of screaming. On the surface the album is not that different from the majority of the new pop-punk on the shelves, but on repeated listening you begin to see that Finch really is offering something new here. On tracks like "Awake" and "Without You Here" the band moves away from the Jimmy Eat Worldish sound of tracks like "Stay With Me" and begins to edge more toward Thursday. The band also manages to throw in some awesome guitar work like on "Untitled" which gives Finch a sound all their own. Don't forget the always-present slow song, "Ender", which is done quite nicely. My biggest complaint with this album would be the production. As is typical in this genre What It is To Burn is somewhat compressed sounding, and lacks a really dynamic range. In the most extreme cases it can make you feel that you are listening to it with a bag on your head. Now onto what totally blew me away about this album...Daryl Palumbo. Being a big Glassjaw fan, I was really excited to see that Daryl added vocals to two of the songs on this album. The first of those tracks "Grey Matter" is an amazing song, which is really the highlight of this album for me. Both Daryl's and Finch singer Nate's vocals are dead on and the duet the two sing is unbelievable. The second song featuring Daryl, "Project Mayhem", not only has a great title (nods to Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club) but is one of the most scattered hard to follow songs I have ever heard, and that is meant in a good way. Although the song is enjoyable it is really hard to grasp what exactly is going on in the song. Lots of yelling, extremely fast beats, and strange sequencing come together to make this unusual song. Nevertheless, it is still an nice addition to What It is To Burn. If I had to sum up this album, which I now do, I would say that if you took a really good pop-punk band and then made them hang out with Daryl and Glassjaw for a couple years, you would get the sound of Finch. Every time you think a song is just going to be a typical Jimmy Eat World sounding song, out come the screams, which turn everything around. To me it is this ability to mix genres that really makes Finch stand out. I give the album a solid 4.0 manstyle points. Whether you are a fan of the genre or not, I think it is clear that Finch has talent, and that "What It is To Burn" stands out among all the current pop-punk releases. The band has very successfully found "the perfect mix of pop-punk and hard rock." [www.finchmusic.com]