I thought this CD was going to be shit, and guess what? Within the first twenty seconds I found myself not surprised. I don't understand how one person can enjoy these vocals. This EP is only 10 minutes, but 10 minutes that I wish I didn't waste. Besides the generic pop "punk" sound they have, I'll give them some props for trying to add some metal elements in. But didn't Sum 41 already do that? My favorite part of this CD was when it ended and I put Final Plan on. Why do people buy this stuff when there is so much better music out there? I ASK WHY! Enough of my rhetorical questions baby. If you like New Found Glory and all that bag this would probably be your thang. This has more pop than the Midwest (if you don't get it, sucks to be you). The major thing that is tying this EP down are those damn vocals, if there was an option to turn them off, this would get a better review. The music being much less than stellar doesn't help either. Bonus points for having a song about a girl called Shakeem!
Okay; I came to this EP as a first time listener to Rufio, so I wasn't biased in my opinion of them. After spending the last 30 minutes or so with these three songs on repeat as I worked, I can safely say, Rufio are not a good band.
Well, perhaps that statement is a little inaccurate. This is the type of pop-punk you can picture the 13 year old New Found Glory fan rockin' out to, just thinking how hardcore they are. As my fellow reviewers have stated, the singer's voice is annoying (is that like some pre-requisite with a pop punk band?) to the point where you look forward to the breaks in between his singing.
As I worked with this EP playing, I can safely say that not one of tracks stood out from the rest as being particularly good. The singer's voice is indistinguishable from most other bands' of this genre, and the lyrics are pretty generic too, the whole 'my-girlfriend-dumped-me' schtick.
Wait, I lied, one thing stood out, the girl in question is called 'Shakeem'. Just for that, I'm giving this album 4 out of 10. The music itself, if a little contrived, isn't bad, but the lyrical content and singer's style let it down.
After AFI left Nitro Records, Nitro went on a splurge by signing a ton of bands that otherwise they would have spent on AFI. Well unfortunately they didn't try and fill those shoes. They instead signed some of the worst bands around today. Rufio was one of them. After becoming a success with their last CD, Perhaps, I Suppose (which went on to become the top selling CD of Interpunk.com), they decided to leave Militia Group for a better known label. I am surprised they didn't sign to a major myself. The 13 year old girls are eating this band up. Well anyway, I have gone on and on about their past.
Nitro was pretty pissed supposedly because this band was signed for a year and was completely idle the whole time. So this is where this 3 song piece of pop punk travesty comes from. This singer has, without a doubt, the worst voice in music today. I can't even stomach to listen to this CD more than once for this review. The music is the same "My girlfriend dumped me" songs we have been seeing for the past decade, yet, I can name 20 bands that have done it A LOT better. I don't know what makes these guys anymore special.
Bottom line: If you are going to listen to music like this, at least listen to New Found Glory. That guy's voice is a lot more tolerable than this.
