Artist: Bedlight For Blue Eyes
Label: Trustkill Records
Released: 2005
The lads from Bedlight for Blue Eyes, who hail from New Jersey, are easy to shove into the emo core box after just a few bars of the opener, Ephemeral Addictions, on their debut studio album “The Dawn” (2005). Emo gets tagged with a pile of adjectives that rob it of any real rock credibility, like pathetic, whiny, naive, self-pitying, etc… but Bedlight For Blue Eyes happily sidestep those labels with quality, backed by a bold display of real musical chops. The quintet sounds tight and compact in the songwriting. The riffs come alive mostly thanks to the record’s all-pervading star turn, the top-notch vocals of singer Christian A. Guerrero, who has a wide range and a rich palette of colors. The man even sneaks bold touches of soul improvisation into the songs, and at times he can be direct and aggressive too, especially with biting endings to the verses, spiced up with a shift in vocal color that can border on a “scream”. It only shows up in shades, though, and always to amplify a certain mood.
The guys navigate familiar moves and aren’t reinventing the wheel. Alternative riffing, chewed up and recycled countless times, but polished in the production, and it’s not hard to spot a few hints of classic Iron Maiden influence. For the genre Bedlight For Blue Eyes belong to, both guitarists are even capable of working in some bold triplet harmonies in the transitions or the short instrumental middle sections. Thinking about solos in the case of Bedlight For Blue Eyes is, of course, utopian. But if nothing else, a song like Dig On This manages to convince you that Bedlight For Blue Eyes can (well enough) play.
Bedlight For Blue Eyes build on atmosphere. Sprawling, smeared, yet still controlled and glossy in the production, the riffs wrap around Guerrero’s excellent singing across 10 songs that roll in colorful, dynamic waves under the baton of a solidly built rhythm-section chassis. In short, highly melodic choruses and tunes that stick in your ears in an instant. But with quality, and effective at stacking up moods.
So this is a band of quality musicians right out of the gate, who’ve put out a trendy, appealing emo core debut. I might even scandalize some by slapping the label of melodic pop core album on it, and if they keep following the development path they’ve laid out, it could take them to the popularity of the likes of My Chemical Romance. For everyone looking for the company of a distorted riff with pop soul vocals, definitely worth a try! And don’t forget! Staind and Nickelback are to blame for all of this.
Lineup
Christian A. Guerrero – vocals
Derek Weber – guitar, backing vocals
Justin Ortiz – guitar, backing vocals
James Granuzzo – bass guitar, backing vocals
Itzhak Bishburg – drums, backing vocals
Production
John Nacliero & Bedlight For Blue Eyes
Track list
1. Ephemeral Addictons
2. Midnight Symphony
3. The Nature Of The Ghost
4. Leaving Berkely Heights
5. Dig On This
6. Soundscapes & Lullabies
7. Faith
8. The Promise
9. Reciprocal
10. Ligeia
Running time: 37.30
