REVIEW: Jamie’s Elsewhere – ‘Rebel/Revive’

April 15th, 2014

Kriston McConnell

Artist: Jamie’s Elsewhere
Album: Rebel/Revive
Genre: Post-hardcore
Label: Unsigned

Jamie’s Elsewhere have had some dramatic changes in their sound over the years. They’ve yet to release two full-length studio albums in a row with the same frontman so it’s been an interesting ride for fans who’ve been there since the beginning. After they left Victory Records their future seemed uncertain, but after some silence they recruited a new vocalist and promised more music. It didn’t take long for them to start teasing new music, and what was released seemed promising.

Considering the group has had different frontmen for their albums, it’s hard to do any sort of comparison to their previous work. I will say that I was not a fan of They Said A Storm Was Coming, so if you didn’t like that album either then have no fear as this is something entirely different. Justin Kyle brings a new life into the band that hasn’t been there for quite some time.

Rebel/Revive opens with “Empty Eyes,” featuring Garrett Rapp of The Color Morale. There probably isn’t a better voice to compliment the frontman than Rapp’s. Even Tyler Carter, who does a great job, doesn’t quite sound as good as these two do together. Though Carter executes his verses perfectly on “The Illusionist,” the song isn’t that memorable otherwise. It’s catchy enough, but is relatively simple.

While on the topic of guest vocalists, probably the best song on the album featuring another artist is “In Depth Perception,” featuring Dev. The song starts off slow and deliberate, consisting of only clean vocals. Right before the end of the song it picks up the pace and wraps up with Justin screaming his last verse. It’s a beautiful track and is a nice break to have in the middle of the album. The song is followed by my personal favorite track on the album, which is titled “Back Stabber.” As the title would suggest, he sings about someone being, well, a backstabber. There are a few times when he sounds a bit like Matty Mullins of Memphis May Fire. His clean vocals in the chorus are some of my favorite on the entire album.

The last track that features guest vocals actually has two different artists. The song is “Capital Vices,” and it has Phil Druyor and Nick Sampson. Druyor is best known for his time in I Am Abomination, and Sampson has worked with him in his short stint with Attack Attack!. This is a song that focuses mostly on clean vocals, and for good reason. All of these men together in the same song makes for something very catchy and melodic.

As you can probably tell, some of the best tracks on this album are ones that feature guest vocalists. The artists who were chosen to be featured in their respective songs added a great vocal dynamic. It’s almost a shame that there weren’t more, but knowing that all of these artists won’t be able to be on every tour with Jamie’s Elsewhere it’s better to have less. Since this band has had to essentially start over again with a new frontman it was also a great strategic choice to have a few big name artists on their album.

It’s difficult to find elements of this album that aren’t done well. The only real issue is that if the guest vocalists weren’t included the album wouldn’t be nearly as dynamic. Not that Justin Kyle isn’t a talented vocalist; it’s just that we hear this kind of music all of the time nowadays. They are competing against bands like Memphis May Fire, The Color Morale and the like. I believe they have done an awesome job setting themselves apart from many of the scene bands out there, but not much from the other bands who are on the same level as they are.

For the sake of their fans, let’s hope that Justin Kyle sticks with Jamie’s Elsewhere for longer than just one album. Who knows if he’s here to stay, but if he is then the band has a bright future ahead of them. I’d love to see them grow on future albums, especially with Kyle at the helm. Considering this being his first album with the band he’s done a great job, and the thought of them getting even better with the more time they are together is incredibly exciting. This lineup seems to work great, so now we just need to wait and see what happens with it.

SCORE: 8.5/10
Review written by Kriston McConnell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgLB3Jom8s