Slow Motion Reign
August 8, 2006
Are you missing that 90’s post-grunge sound? You know what I mean: sort of a bit of Soundgarden mixed with the melodic tenderness of Ben Folds Five? Am I scaring you? Don’t be scared. I’m talking about the band Slow Motion Reign. They are not the typical sound I usually cover or review on this site, but they sent me a CD so what the heck. Now that I’ve completely set you up for a shitty review, let me say that it’s not at all that way. These guys are a bit too Floyd meets Alice in Chains but they were produced by Serj Tankian, that wacky singer from System of a Down. When I first heard he had produced this record I thought, cool, more of that System of a Down manic-panic rock, but I was wrong. Slow Motion Reign are a talented crew of men with names I cannot properly pronounce: Narek Pogosyan, Sam Babayan, Erwin Khachikian and Vigen Sayadian. Their sound is all over the place. From hard contained rock balladry to slower, multi instrumental orchestral pieces. There is no indie, under-production here. What you get is a highly produced, refined stadium rock sound. Track 8 “Stay Awake” starts with a pretty (did I just use that word?) piano piece that then morphs into this textured, melodic, beatle-esque (more Paul than John) ballad that can teach many a musician today the meaning of the word ‘dynamics’. Yes that’s right! My high school band conductor always complained I didn’t understand what dynamics were, but I do now! Unfortunately, Slow Motion Reign does not offer downloads, but thanks to that benevolent anti-christ mogul, Ruport Murdoch, you can hear their music on his space, I mean Myspace. Oh man, will the music police come after me? I hope so. I need the traffic.
