On the Might Of Princes - Sirens

On the Might of Princes is a post-hardcore band from Long Island, who enthusiastically attempt to carve their own underground style, but end up taking a lot from previous bands, such as At the Drive In, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, and, on occasion, even Domesitca-ish Cursive. Not that this is a bad thing, though I do prefer when they stick to their own abrasive sound - for instance, “You Whistle, I’ll Shoot.” It’s sloppy, slurry, and screaming, but still technically solid. I find this to be somewhat similar to Glassjaw’s methods of mixing up precise rhythms into otherwise messy songs. Much like Glassjaw, On the Might of Princes took a few listens to get into. Some songs are a cluttered mess of pandemonium, while others are a bit easy going and ordinary. When I say cluttered mess, I mean to say that it’s erratic and raw but not at all unpleasant; it’s a remarkable sound, and I love it. Just when I felt that parts of the album began to drag on, there would be a change of pace or change of vocals styles that would keep me interested. The wide-ranging vocals aren’t the greatest at times (a little muted), but when they’re good, they’re fantastic. The quality in vocals seem proportionate to the level of intensity and chaos in the music; though, without the normal sounding songs, the screaming ones wouldn’t be as brilliant. Also, at a time when vocals are being over-produced left and right (even Brand New and The Mars Volta sound over done), it’s nice to see a band choose a less manufactured sound. One of the other distinguished areas is in the lyrics, such as the title track, which goes, “I awoke to sirens but all you heard was apologies, was it too loud or not loud enough to move the mountains we built, into the trenches we dug repeating ourselves, biting our hands counting.” Even though the second track is named “Go Fuck Yrself,” it turns out to be much more interesting than its title. The bonus song, officially called “Track 12,” is a bizarre jam session (recorded with binaural microphones I’ll bet) performed with various instruments and non-instruments, like a wine cork, bongos, cowbell, pliers, mallet, toy phone, a maraca, and even house keys. If that isn’t a testament of down-to-earth musicians, I don’t know what is. [www.onthemightofprinces.com]