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Four Letter Lie

Let Your Body Take Over

(Victory Records; US: 31 Oct 2006; UK: 13 Nov 2006)

Four Letter Lie are intent on making sure that you know they are hardcore “emo”. How else to explain the Alexisonfire-by-numbers effort of “Full Tilt Boogie” that even has the dueling vocals between singing and screaming? You can’t. The same can be uttered for the slightly more adventurous, radio-friendly “Naked Girl Avalanche” that resembles Taking Back Sunday. On the other hand, the group hit paydirt with the mainstream pop rock of “Feel Like Fame”, which sounds as if it could have fallen off a Gin Blossoms tribute album. The Minnesota quintet alternate between the “emo/screamo” schlock of the title track and the bigger anthems like “It Was a Business Doing Pleasure”. There isn’t much here to get overly excited about, although some songs, such as “Baby, You’re My Bad Habit”, do have their moments, albeit fleetingly. The softest ballad here has to be “Firecracker Four Letter Lie”, which is quite well done. But considering the same band comes up with a sub-par “Cowboys & Indians”, this is a hit and miss kind of album.

Rating:

Originally from Cape Breton, MacNeil is currently writing for the Toronto Sun as well as other publications, including All Music Guide, Billboard.com, NME.com, Country Standard Time, Skope Magazine, Chart Magazine, Glide, Ft. Myers Magazine and Celtic Heritage. A graduate of the University of King's College, MacNeil currently resides in Toronto. He has interviewed hundreds of acts ranging from Metallica and AC/DC to Daniel Lanois and Smokey Robinson. MacNeil (modestly referred to as King J to friends), a diehard Philadelphia Flyers fan, has seen the Rolling Stones in a club setting, thereby knowing he will rest in peace at some point down the road. Oh, and he writes for PopMatters.com.


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