Ready The Destroyer's 1st EP "Through This Night"

Upon first listen to Chicago indie/punk band, Ready The Destroyer's freshman EP- "Through This Night" I was immediately reminded of the now overdone riffs of the Blink 182/Weezer influenced, garage bands of my youth. The gritty sound and distortion of the guitars and the simplicity of a three piece band and some angsty lyrics brought me back to the days of jumping up and down in the front row of a friend's coffee shop gig.

As the album progresses however, the nostalgia begins to wear thin and songs such as "Lifeline" and "The Cut" rely too heavily on recent popular music by bands like Bloc Party and Fall Out Boy. Ready The Destroyer lead vocalist and songwriter, Neill Miller's singing seems affectedly flat and malcontent. On the track "Anew" Miller sings "nothing's ever started, nothing ever ends, just spare me the bad feeling." These, like most of the lyrics on this album are overwrought with specious depth that leave the listener unable to attach meaning to these songs.

Though there are moments when the music seems to hint at complexity and originality, most of the tracks sound like copies of their more well-known punk predecessors. "Through This Night" begins with a dark-pop feel and descends into a heavy, overly distorted hole where one song is not distinguishable from another.

Though a valiant first attempt, Ready The Destroyer has yet to carve out a sound that is unique enough to stand up to their local and national contemporaries. "Through This Night" is available at their website www.readythedestroyer.com, and they can be caught live at the Double Door at 10pm on March 25th.

(published 3/10/08 @ www.thedelimagazine.com/chicago)