LITANY FOR THE WHALE – Dolores

Ever been out somewhere and there’s a person sitting next to you who looks so familiar, but you just can’t quite place where you’ve seen him before? I mean, you are searching the deepest corners of your mind to think about where you have ever possibly seen him, and you just can’t do it. You can’t place him. He leaves the room and suddenly it hits you. You have never actually seen him before. He just felt familiar.

What you just read is the exact feeling you get while listening to Litany For The Whale. This California-based quartet takes cues from everything from metal to hardcore to post-rock and throws it into a sonic blender that ends up like most everything in a blender. Bland. The vocals are nothing you haven’t heard from every other modern hard rock band. Think Deftones running into Dillinger Escape Plan.

The guitars are rock solid, but again sound like every other band that plays on Warped Tour. The thing about Dolores is that nothing truly goes wrong. It all works out well and produces a solid, consistent sound that is really quite a respectable heavy rock album. There just simply isn’t anything that makes Litany For The Whale stand out from the crowd of noisy bands. The track “Philistines” offers a lovely little acoustic interlude that shows some serious musical chops, but overall there is little to make this 12″ vinyl EP a must-listen album. That isn’t to say Litany Of The Whale don’t show any promise. Dolores has lots of great bits to like, but nothing to absolutely fall in love with.

(The Perpetual Motion Machine, PO Box 7401, Richmond, VA 23221)