There are a lot of great CDs by insanely talented and original, but unrecognized, bands. Bands who manage to incorporate depth and personality into their songs and treat each album like a work of art, while making a household name for themselves and leaving an imprint on the music business. Unfortunately, The Elation’s Purpose and Meaning is not one of them.

Their sound can best be described as everything that is wrong with The Used and everything that is wrong with Switchfoot being put together in a blender to create one EXTREMELY bad band. The album is filled with songs that can best be described as loud and poppy emo (which is never a good mix) striving to become likable and failing miserably. The band’s sophomore effort is so pretentious that it calls to mind one of those garage bands on a bad high school drama.

The band proves how much depth and talent they lack with lyrics like "Woah you’re falling, the dollar signs won’t make you, they’ll just break you. And woah you’re not smiling the dollar signs make you, they’ll just break you," set to a heavy beat with the lead singer, Spencer Birkner, making gigantic rookie mistakes, and just plain bad judgment calls, like drawing out the last word of every line (of every song). It’s almost as if he’s trying to ensure we don’t miss anything important, yet there is nothing significant there to begin with. Or maybe he’s under the impression that someone will dig the fact that he’s possibly tone deaf.

The band didn’t have to boast that they are all under the age of nineteen, because the lyrics tell you that these guys are still in the high school mind frame. Who else would think "My patience is running short like your crimson dress, and I must confess I need to taste your touch" in a song with a chorus centered on playing truth or dare would be cool?

The first three songs seem like one really long (and horrible) song. They blend so seamlessly, what with similar arrangements, tones, and poor lyrics that it will leave you double checking your CD player to make sure that it did actually move on to the next song. I don’t think I could give a full list of what is wrong with this CD without turning the review into a Stephen King-length novel, which would be fitting, seeing how I equate both the CD and King with horror.

This CD makes me wonder if McDonalds has gotten into the music business and is now producing Value Music. I can’t imagine this band not being put together by some exec thinking that if a boy band and an emo band got together it would sell. It would also explain why the band only knows how to play one song at different speeds, it was choreographed because they're not real musicians.

Bottom line: there are no breakout stars in this band, there is nothing on this CD worth listening to, and I imagine that it is played often in hell. Don’t waste your money.

Copyright 2007 Metropolitan Community College