Let’s get one thing straight; The Casting Out is a great live band. They’re performances are high energy and they completely sell the show. Unfortunately, this is a review of their debut full-length, Go Crazy! Throw Fireworks! With that in mind, here are a few notes to familiarize you with the subject at hand.
The Casting Out are:
1. A rock band
2. Comprised of ex-members of BoySetsFire
3. Located in Delaware
4. Really popular in Germany…?
5. Big, huge fans of vests…and ties
The Casting Out are not:
1. All that popular stateside
2. All that great
It upsets me that the first influence cited on The Casting Out’s Myspace page is The Replacements; they sound nothing like The Replacements and they wish they drank as much as Paul Westerberg. I mean, everything here is okay and the recording is serviceable, but they’re certainly not breaking any new ground and the overwhelming sense of “we-don’t-give-a-fuck”ness that emanates from their band comes off as a pointless shtick, not an actual mantra.
Nathan Grey can still sing and is a good enough reason to at least try this. Of course, having his name attached to the project is probably the only reason these guys are getting any attention at all. But cashing in on one member’s past achievements does not a good band make. Grey has given up the political leanings that made Boysetsfire so relevant and anthemic and replaced them with musings on life and love, which don’t really fit his call-to-arms style of singing. “The Ebbing of the Tide” is the only true highlight; Grey sounds convincing and the band does a nice job of reaching an actual crescendo. Some of the faster tracks can be good a few times through (“Quioxte’s Last Ride” sports some nice hooks and “These Alterations” proves that there is hope), but I’d honestly rather listen to old Rise Against or even Broadway Calls.
Label: Fail Safe
These Alterations
