Time in Malta - Alone With Alone

Reviewed by jaybee

Time in Malta is a band that really skates the edge between hard rock and hardcore. Their sound isn’t as much a homogeneous mixture of the two styles as it is a chunky stew stirred over medium heat with the wrong end of the spoon. They seem to neither have the aggression to tackle hardcore full on, nor the loose chops to go metal. They have instead, on Alone With Alone, created an album that would serve nicely as a transitional piece for a rock fan curious about the hardcore side of the playground. Alone With Alone jumps between each of the aforementioned styles throughout its 48-minute running time, often painting entire tracks from either palette. “Bare Witness” blows up an acoustic intro with double kick drums and shouted vocals, a theme that is continued in the equally intense “Tightrope.” “Louder Than Bombs” and “Ghosts” follow with very conventional song structures and anthemic choruses. Repeat this pattern (and throw in the love song “Fused As One” that you could just FEEEEL coming), and you have a pretty good idea what the rest of the album is like. Time In Malta feels quite comfortable in these shoes, and to their credit, they never try to do too much. But in the end, their non-committal style just doesn’t deliver the goods. Sometimes the middle ground is where a band can etch out their-own unique sound and make the genre tags that surround them meaningless. Sometimes. [www.timeinmalta.com]

Aug 9 2004