Dire

By the first song on the first spin, I was ready to put this to rest, but as I continued to listen, there were elements on Dire that kept me coming back. But when all is said and done, I’m not sure there’s enough here to separate them from any other radio rock band. You want to replay “Murder” and “Any Coward Can Hate” in particular, but I can’t quite put my finger on what makes them so interesting.

I can put my finger, though, on one of the things that did make it harder to stomach. The singing vocals are dull; it sounds like Ben Stein is singing. If Dire ever wants to be successful, they’ll need to address this concern. On the other hand, the screamed vocals are great, but in contrast, the main vocals sound even worse.

Dire’s formula is nothing new, but it is nicely executed. The production is nice, as well, but there’s nothing too slick. I definitely wanted to listen to some tracks again, but I can’t find anything on here that listeners would just have to have. It’s a record that would go over well on rock radio, and, most likely, in about five years, Dire will make me eat my words. But for now, I’ll only pick some of the tracks and spin those again. For fans of Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch and Hawthorne Heights.

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Wes Jaques

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