Sounding like your heroes

It is common in music to have a band ape the sound of those that came before.  A lot of debut albums can become a game of spot the influences, as elements of a bands heroes sap into their music.  However, there is always a difference between being influenced by and copying and you can spot the bands that are going to be special by the ones that take parts of these legendary bands and make them their own.  However, there is another problem with this method.  That being, when you take influence from those around you, you often end up with an album that is disjointed and sounds like the work of several bands rather than one.  Avenged Sevenfolds’ number one album Hail to the King, is the prime example of this.  There are some great tracks on that album, but when you take it as an actual album, it doesn’t hang together.

All of this brings us on to Motionless in White, a band who stand out due to their visual presentation.  This year they have dropped Reincarnate, their third album and a hodge podge of other bands ideas crammed onto one disc.  Right from the opening of “Death March” which screams Manson, while a breakdown in the middle is so Korn that they have even incoporated “Ring a Ring ‘s Roses” into it, this is an album that will remind you of other bands.  Elsewhere “Unstoppable” sounds like a Five Finger Death Punch cut and there are Nine Inch Nails influences all over the place.  While Cradle of Filth also rear their head on more than one occasion, particularly “Puppets 3 (The Grand Finale)” which actually features Dani Filth himself.

It’s all just a bit too much and it leads to an album that feels more like a bands greatest hits.  Although even then it would have to be a band who have a long and varied career to justify the amount of different styles on display here.  It’s a theme that maybe works in the single lead environment of 2014, there are enough big metalcore tracks on here that I’m sure plenty of people will buy into this, but when you sit down and listen to the album its just confusing.  It’s even more confusing when you consider this is the bands third album, the album where traditionally bands would truly define their sound.  Motionless in White seem to have gone the other direction and defined a whole load of other bands sound.

I do sound very harsh and the truth is I quite like parts of this album.  Motionless in White are an alright band, I mean I can’t see myself ever falling in love with them, but if they were at a festival and there was no one else on they’d be the kind of band I’d happily check out.  However, if they ever want to move past being that kind of band they need to move past their heroes.  They need to find out who Motionless in White really are and write music that promotes that fact.  If they can do that they may well make it yet.