Forty Foot Echo
Forty Foot Echo
Hollywood
Although some people might consider the arrival of another Canadian modern rock band as about as necessary as landing gear on a submarine, Forty Foot Echo do have a number of redeeming qualities, including a selection of addictive, edgy tunes, as well as the welcomed relief that they are not Nickelback in disguise.
Whereas their countrymen have built their success on the strength of one smash-hot single and a fairly weak album, Forty Foot Echo, judging by their debut self-titled record, are a lot more consistent.
Sounding like an amalgamation of Live, Goo Goo Dolls and Our Lady Peace, they should certainly check all the right boxes for fans of intelligently written and edgy modern rock, as the lead-off single “Save Me” proves. Vocalist and chief songwriter Murray Yates has a voice not a million miles away from that of Ed Kowalczyc’s, and the song shares his trademark emotional delivery and impassioned lyrics.
“Multiply” follows, merging a spiky, aggressive verse with a superbly melodic chorus and matches the opening assault of “Drift” for impact. A duo of modern rock ballads such as “Songbird” and “Brand New Day” are clearly engineered for maximum chart exposure, but manage to bridge the tricky gap between being commercial and totally selling out. However, “Weakness”, “Tomorrow” and “What If I Don’t” showcase the band’s ability to crank things up impressively when the need arises.
Overall, Forty Foot Echo is an impressive, thoroughly modern rock album which serves up energetic, infectious rock and mid-paced ballads in equal measure. If success was based purely on talent, then Forty Foot Echo would go far. Now they just need a slice of Nickelback’s luck.
Forty Foot Echo: http://www.fortyfootecho.com/
