Spun: Socratic

By Nathan Atnikov

The emo stylings of Socratic place them as something akin to the suburban Californian version of My Chemical Romance, complete with all the heart-wrenching but half the intensity. Lunch for the Sky has all the heart-on-sleeve appeal of emo, but the vocals often stumble clumsily around the rhythm, as if the band is still trying to figure out exactly how the songs work.

The album would be much more effective if Socratic were trying to be funny. Many of the lyrics are laughable–actual lyric: “Hey all you screamo/what’s the deal when any talent that you lack is covered up by the fact that you can scream really loud?”–but at the same time uncomfortable because they are deadly serious.

If nothing else, Socratic has mastered the essential emo art of the sing-along chorus, most noticeable on “I Don’t Wear A Coat,” where there are so many vocal overdubs the sing-along can’t be avoided. There’s nothing here to make Socratic stand out in an increasingly watered-down genre.

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