THE END IS BEGUN

I ran into this band when they opened for Porcupine Tree. Let me tell you something about 3 (yes, their name is written as a number, not as the word like progarchives says. For the second release of this album, they changed the artwork back to the number): if their studio albums had the same energy and power as their live act did, this wouldn't be a mere four star review.

The End Is Begun is a rather unique sounding record, not something I would usually run into. The acoustic guitars blast around here and there, making your fingers ache with the knowledge that Joey Eppard is fingerpicking all that. Note, in their live shows, he has a trademark move that at the end of each concert, he strums his guitar so hard with his bare fingers that he breaks at least one string, sometimes all of them. This acoustic work is the centerpiece of the band's music, providing an exciting and funky sort of feel, without which the band would be somewhere hovering around average.

Joey's voice is the most notably weaker part when comparing this album to a live show. Not that his voice is weak on the album. But when he sings in person, he belts and wails with the best of them, while being more laid back on this CD. The other highly notable musician here is Joe Stote, who usually handles the keyboards. Once in a while, such as in the opening track here, though, he trades in his ivories for a big set of drums and adds in a wonderful tribal sound to the already talented drumming going on. The lead guitarist and the bassist are both talented as they should be, though they do not stand out so very much compared to Joey and Joe.

So it comes down to the music. The opening track gives a wonderful taste of what kind of music you can expect here. Fast but not obnoxiously so acoustic guitar lays down a rhythm, and after a while the band enters. It's a bit hard to describe, really, even though that's kind of why I'm writing a review. Either way, the power of double the drums and some neat power chords over heavy fingerpicking leads way into the second track, the title track, dropping the chorded fingerpicking for a good bit of speedy linear picking. Truth be told, the two moods seen in the first song and then the sound of the second pretty much completely sum up the album.

And that is the real problem. The songs are almost all great songs, but they are all a fair bit similar. Each track is different enough not to be redundant, but the album on the whole doesn't do a lot of progressing, really. At least, not until the last track, which is haunting and soft.

An album certainly to check out, but for me to be really excited about their next release, they'll have to change up their sound and really progress.