Music Reviews

Big Collapse

Prototype

Militia Group

For a band that includes former members of hardcore outfits Shift and Burn in their ranks, Big Collapse’s debut for The Militia Group is surprisingly about as straight-forward as rock gets these days.

The skill with which these hardcore veterans play together can’t be denied (the rhythm section is particularly impressive), and it’s fair to say that Prototype is a solid, mature rock album. But unlike their peers in bands like Rival Schools, it just feels a little uninspired, and, well, I hate to say it, but boring.

The album falls squarely into the “pseudo-gritty hard rock” category, and although there’s nothing particularly wrong with this, there’s just nothing spectacular enough about these songs to make them stand out or warrant additional listens. Think of it as a less interesting version of the Juliana Theory or a grittier Foo Fighters release.

Hopefully next time we’ll get to see the band branch out a little more, use more challenging, experimental songwriting techniques, infuse some different sounds and abandon the more formulaic stuff that keeps Big Collapse from breaking that hardcore-band-turned-wisened-rockers stigma…

Big Collapse: [www.bigcollapse.com/](http://www.bigcollapse.com/)


Recently on Ink 19...

Incubus

Incubus

Screen Reviews

Both bold experiment and colossal failure in the 1960s, Esperanto language art house horror film Incubus returns with pre-_Star Trek_ William Shatner to claim a perhaps more serious audience.

Garage Sale Vinyl: Loretta Lynn

Garage Sale Vinyl: Loretta Lynn

Garage Sale Vinyl

In this latest installment of his weekly series, Christopher Long is betrayed by his longtime GF when she swipes his copy of Loretta Lynn’s Greatest Hits Vol. II right out from under his nose while rummaging through a south Florida junk store.