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Lennon - 5:30 Saturday Morning

Like a female version of Marilyn Manson without the shock rock tactics and twisted gothic undercurrent, Lennon Murphy, the young frontwoman and namesake of the band slings her sultry styled croons overtop of brooding electronic infused modern metal, bringing to mind the likes of older Stabbing Westward, Joydrop and Human Waste Project. Cathartic and full of electronic bombast, yet sullen and vulnerable, the band create an interestingly aggressive paradox that occasionally breaks character for piano driven ballads and alternative rock styled excursions.

Somewhere in-between Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos lies the voice of Lennon, who surprisingly, despite being backed by an ever charging wall of distorted guitars, tends to stick to the more emphatically melodic side of things as opposed to bellowing out a throat scorching screams. Her wails and croons are definitely edgy and drip with emotion, yet also exhibit a fair amount of restraint which sets somewhat of a simmering pace as the tracks progress. The guitar parts are decidedly new metal schooled and churn out ample downtuned distortion that is fairly timid in order to accentuate the vocals, while the occasional throbbing bassline backs up the fairly crisp percussion that serves as a metronome of sorts for the swirling electronic noise and thundering bass drops.

Essentially, the music feels more like a backing vehicle to Lennon's vocals rather than a focused group effort and as such, the songs can tend to be a bit disjointed, though their punchy electro-modern metal feel does give them an interesting appeal overall. Unfortunately though, the vocals tend to sound like they could just as easily be placed atop melodic alt-rock and work just the same, but as it is, the material having a slightly harder edge should be able to win over those looking for something different. The musicianship on the album is solid and though Lennon herself tends to dwell in the same vocal range more often than not, she can indeed hold a note and serves the role of frontwoman well. At times the songs can feel a bit underdeveloped and loosely assembled, but they do achieve their goals in the end and though this album isn't likely to utterly blow anyone away, its still nice to see another competent musically inclined female involved in the world of heavier music.

(2.5 / 5)

wookubus

Purchase This Album

Lennon
5:30 Saturday Morning
Arista
©2001

1. Property Of Goatfucker
2. Trying To Make Me
3. Brake Of Your Car
4. My Beautiful
5. Those Days
6. Asking You
7. Morning
8. I Hear
9. Thank You
10. Couldn't Breathe
11. These Days
12. 5:30 Saturday Morning

Lennon's Official Website

 

 
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