You can almost taste the angst from the opening of In This Style’s
debut </sarcasm>. While these Dartmouth prog-rockers
deliver a hefty helping of the teenage delicacy with lyrics like “hate
is beauty,” the real treat is when they move from heavier chords into
melodic, angular riffs. It’s then that the music effectively translates
more sincere emotions. An emphasis on atmosphere gives heart to more
aggressive elements on standout tracks like “Epiphany pt.1” and “pt.2.”
Progressive rock isn’t my favourite genre, but
</sarcasm>‘s soundscape provides quite a guilty pleasure
while offering something more for swoop-banged boys and black-clad
girls. –Mike Landry
This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2009.
