Agraceful - The Great I Am

It's hard for me to pin point exactly where alot of musicians who are barely out of high school, or who should still be in high school are really coming from. It's just odd to me, it's also hard to find a sense of honesty in their music. I can honestly say, looking back on it, if the band I was in while in high school publicly released music, it would be an absolute joke. The thing about growing up a music lover is that you can look back on either the stuff you listened to when you were younger, or even the music you made and laugh.

In Agraceful's case, it's a similar fashion. This young band is the product of ex-Emarosa singer Chris Roetter re-uniting with old band mates to make a new record. The funny thing is, the band has been a band for less than a year, but luckily they have had a working relationship, and found a record deal in what I call the MySpace A&R label Sumerian Records.

With all that being said, the band's debut release The Great I Am is exactly what you would expect from a band of their nature. Simple song structures, low and high screaming parts for your teen angst, breakdowns galore, and oh yeah, you betcha, the ever so illustrious singing choruses.

For all parts, the band passes as generic, and something I honestly can't say is my cup of tee, and though I can't pinpoint it, the band does have some sort of different edge from their peers, however I will get to that in a second. Though the record is pretty cookie cutter, it is honestly catchy as hell and has stayed on repeat for the past few days because I can't get the melodies out of my head.

The record was produced by Grant Beachy at Electric Angel Studios (The Revival Sound, O Jerusalem). Yeah, you saw my bands name to the left, and guilty as charged, I do have a biased opinion. However, the production is pinpoint. Extremely stripped down and crisp.

Bottom line with this record and this band, is like their peers, it's hard to pass any sense of judgment because of how young they are. The key is to watch what they do on their next two releases, and therefore, see the sense of progression they endure. If it's the same thing, I would say write them off, however, i'm an optimist, and this record IS on my good side, so im excited to see what happens next.

FINAL GRADE: B