Empired

Reviews

Empired Strikes Back CD

What if TEXAS IS THE REASON was a radio pop-rock band from Southern California? That’s the vibe I’m getting here, for better and worse. On the positive side, elements of when pop punk goes hard into the pop realm (think the melodic work bands like BROADWAY CALLS have made their bread and butter) are deftly executed and mixed with ’90s post-hardcore. When the needle is more on the post-hardcore/punk-adjacent side as opposed to the alternative/radio rock end of the spectrum, the record works best and goes at all cylinders. A couple quasi-corny radio rock and ska-ish moments would simply make the songs better by not being there. Lyrically, these guys seem to be fairly punk in their thinking, which I appreciate, but I wish the EVERCLEAR or cod reggae  moments were cut to give the good elements more time to shine.

Empired Finding Calm in the Chaos CD

EMPIRED kicks off this LP with a catchy little number called “Unite,” and it has the same clean and catchy sound of the best JIMMY EAT WORLD songs. The record’s sequencing is a bit disjointed. Also, just because a band is from SoCal, it doesn’t mean you have to toss in Long Beach ska upstrokes at all, or ever. I feel like this is a trap. A lot of good bands try to overextend themselves and could have used a producer, or a friend, to let them know that it is better to do fewer songs that are great versus putting songs in to fill an LP. By the time you get to “Fences” and “Paradise,” tracks four and five, the songs anneal in a way that brings out more sense of a good band staying in their lane and writing great songs—specifically with the song “Fences,” and bringing in Brenna Red (the LAST GANG) for backups completely catapults the song and band to the familiar late ’90s No Idea Records era of RADON and BITCHIN’, and I even hear some of the MUFFS in her delivery. Overall, this is a great start for a band. This would have made an outstanding four- or five-song EP.