Von Bohlen and gang back to the studio.
It's not The Promise Ring, but it'll do.
Maritime
Heresy and the Hotel Choir
Released on Nov 30, -0001
I jumped on The Promise Ring bandwagon a little late – so late, in fact, that everybody had already moved on from them. Over the last two years I’ve grown quite fond of The Promise Ring and could easily say they are one of my favorite bands. Promise Ring broke up in 2002, but the vision still lives on – as vocalist Davey von Bohlen formed Maritime in 2003. Four years and three releases later; Maritime is set to release their fourth full length entitled Heresy and the Hotel Choir on October 16th.
Heresy and the Hotel Choir is at it’s best when von Bohlen lets his voice do all the work for him. There are points where von Bohlen harkens to his Promise Ring days and delivers beautiful sounding tracks like “Aren’t We All Found Out? and “Guns of Navarone,? but there are also tracks like “For Science Fiction and “Are We Renegade? that make me feel like I’m listening to Alkaline Trio, as von Bohlen’s voice becomes strained and ridiculously raspy. Are they bad songs? No, not by any means – but the likeness is just a little too apparent.
Musically the album is a throwback to what I’m assuming made Maritime love music in the first place. “Pearl? sounds like The Cure, “Love has Given Up? sounds like Bloc Party trying to sound like The Cure and “Hand Over Hannover,? for whatever reason, makes me think of The Police. If you love Davey von Bohlen and everything else he has ever been a part of, then I’m sure your mind is already made up about this album. If you like good, somewhat catchy indie pop – then check out Heresey and the Hotel Choir. It won’t be the worst thing you ever listen to.High Point
Low Point
Posted by Wes Soltis on Oct 02, 2007 @ 12:00 am