I Killed the Prom Queen

I'm not going to lie to you, kids. I have an affinity for most things from Down Under. I had family who lived there for fifteen years that I had the pleasure of visiting many moons ago. I've been on the Sydney Harbour Cruise, record shopping in Melbourne, held a wombat in Ballarat, and found my way back to a strip club in King's Cross. All of which, I might add, are highly recommended if journeying over. Now this isn't to say I like everything the land of Aus has ever produced, but their track record is somewhat better than most continents with fewer marsupials.

With that said, I must admit that even after numerous listens, Music for the Recently Deceased really isn't a very good album. With their second album, Adelaide's I Killed the Prom Queen have created a milquetoast mélange of pseudo-aggro melodies and mosh-by-numbers breakdowns that may keep the kids ensconced, but the more discerning listener is sure to see through this cheap ruse. I have a pet peeve with the modern breakdown and anyone who uses it in the now all too familiar verse-chorus-verse-chorus-breakdown-chorus format. It's weak. It's telling the listener "Hey dummy, I know you'll never find the will or summon the basic motor skills to decide when to move on your own, so get ready to jump up and down in 3…2…1… Bawitdaba da dangy dong…"

Ok, maybe I'm being too harsh, I know this type of shit's very popular and the band will probably do very well despite these words of caution, but dammit, boys and girls - I just think you deserve better.

Now I'm all for growth, but there's an agenda to this album that that is much more overt this time around as compared to their previous effort, When Goodbye Means Forever. And that is the desire to find the "hook" to make the music "catchy." I Killed the Prom Queen's first album was unmemorable, but this album is aggressively unmemorable (trust me, it makes sense). Whether this is due to the replacement of original singer Michael Crafter with new (and slightly worse) singer Edward Butcher is unclear, but in being so blatant about their desire to please you, the listener - the band renders the album all but impotent.

4.7 / 10 — Kevin Fitzpatrick