A generally talented, yet flat singer with seemingly little training? Check. A drummer with skills, but near continuous augmentation of distortion of the cymbals? Check. Manic depressive swings from slow dirge to near metal? Check. Is this a good record made by a good band? Absolutely. But is it groundbreaking or manifesting anything new? Not so much.

 

This collection feels consistently frosty and spare, brimming with unspent impotent anger. Slow passages with soft vocals and thoughtful lyrics suddenly morph into heavy riffs with aggressive singing, all to roll back to contemplative. It’s a lot like my morning commute, to be honest.

 

In the late 1980s, as hair metal began to descend into pale imitations, the dreaded “W” bands had potential, yet failed to distinguish themselves from other acts in the genre. Great White, Warrant, White Lion, and Winger all got record deals, released albums, and toured, but they were generally the opening acts that nobody really remembers today. Gardens is at risk as being this decade’s alternative version of the “W” bands: Competent enough to produce decent music, but not creative enough to distinguish themselves.

 

While all the tracks were enjoyable and pleasant to listen to, they were all pretty much variations of the same song. Sometimes the busy, aggressive element is absent, and sometimes the band returns to it twice or more in the song, but each track has a limited range of sounds. The guitars on each track sound like the engineer got through the first song, liked what he heard, and never changed the setting on the mixing board. The drums are capable and support the tracks well. On only one song does the vocalist get creative, and that’s when he imitates a metal vocalist with his screaming and growling at the end of the final track, “Architect.”

 

Did I enjoy this record? Yeah. If you enjoy alternative music, will you like it? Sure. However, if you’re looking for something new, innovative, or unique in your music, you may want to look somewhere else; these guys are very good at what they’re doing, but they lack the creativity to break the alternative mold.