Rearview Mirror: All Lights Off
Review by Dan Grote

Rearview Mirror: All Lights Off
Label: Gobstopper/Palm Records
Rating:

Rearview Mirror is the first act signed to producer Steve Lillywhite's Gobstopper Records. Already known for producing artists such as U2 and the Dave Matthews Band, Lillywhite has now put himself in the talent development business, starting with this four-piece from Iowa, known to most as the Land of Slipknot.

The band is young, its members ranging between 18 and 20 years of age, making them younger than former alt-rock young turks Silverchair and some members of Hanson. However, their sound is somewhat mature by comparison, aspiring in some places to prog-metal godfathers Tool and in other places to understated funk riffs, especially in the second half of the album.

All Lights Off, the band's debut, is an album that needs time to build before it can be appreciated. The lead track and single, "In the Beginning," has some generic modern rock elements, but there lies potential in lyrics like "Next time you try to relate to others, I hope you're more successful than this." "28/7" opens things up a little more with some fun space-gun sounds in the background, reminiscent of live performances of the Billy Idol classic "Rebel Yell."

"City Walls" finds lead singer Adam Ptacek embracing his inner Maynard as he sings "the bleeding is wearing me down," while a bongo backbeat slows things down. Though very skilled for a band of mostly teenagers, one should point out that emulating a prog-metal band does not make the emulators progressive themselves.

"City Walls" is followed by "Animal," which finds the band in full metal swing, kicking things off with pure attention-grabbing thrash. On a separate note, one should point out the irony in a band that shares its name with a Pearl Jam song naming one of its songs after another Pearl Jam song from the exact same album ("Rearview Mirror" and "Animal" can both be found on Versus).

Where the band truly hits its stride, however, is on the back half of the album. "Blade" opens with a cool, jazzy guitar rhythm that changes the album's attitude drastically. "Sinking" alternates between cool guitars and thrash and introduces themes of sorcery. Truth be told, the band might be better off abandoning their more metal side in favor of the tempered rhythms that permeate tracks eight through ten.

Things fall apart a little on the last two songs. "Dead Air" contains some cool guitar stuttering, but Ptacek's vocals could be much more impassioned. The closing track appears to be a bland return to track three, "Like They Were," despite the addition of some Floyd-esque keyboards.

VERDICT: Rearview Mirror show a lot of promise. Under Lillywhite's guidance, they could be bound for big things, as there is already a layer of musicianship and skill beneath the studio polish. Though All Lights Off came dangerously close to sounding generic in the outset, the band comes through with a few variations on their own sound that show a second album could be even better. In short, this is a fine debut for a bunch of kids fresh out of high school.

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