Echo Effect
The Beauty in Disaster
Independent
2012
Echo Effect: What an epic name for a band! Seriously, just hearing it makes me think of a massive musical explosion. The group’s first effort, The Beauty in Disaster was released on December 24th of 2012. It’s a fairly short EP, only clocking in at around 22 minutes, but great things can often come in small packages!
The man behind the microphone, Wally Joseph, has quite the track record. Through his career in performing and producing, he has been involved with countless bands, including Skywind/Crash Anthem, Whither the Tide, Vaudeville, Eden, and many more. Naturally, this set the bar very high for me. And sure enough, when I heard the gnarly bass line of “Face of the Girl,” I knew the EP was not going to disappoint. Every single song on the record sounds incredibly thick and powerful, thanks to the driving chops of drummer Erik Williams and the heavy, low-tuned guitar goodness of Jacob Nelson and Chris Rowe. Throw this all under Wally’s aggressive, yet heart felt voice and you have a huge melodic sound that’s reminiscent of Chevelle in the early 2000’s.
After a few listens though, I was impressed, but not blown away. The EP lacked variety and sounded rather formulaic. Granted, the post grunge style is heavily reliant on the pop song formant, but every time I got to “Push-Over,” the final and weakest track on the record, I started getting bored of the repetition.
Despite this, the songs still get stuck in my head, almost daily it seems. They’re really catchy, and I would not be surprised to see Echo Effect’s sound and style to evolve to something more unique and original. For a debut, it’s not bad by any means, but I know this band can do better, and I certainly hope that The Beauty in Disaster is the start of something beautiful!
The man behind the microphone, Wally Joseph, has quite the track record. Through his career in performing and producing, he has been involved with countless bands, including Skywind/Crash Anthem, Whither the Tide, Vaudeville, Eden, and many more. Naturally, this set the bar very high for me. And sure enough, when I heard the gnarly bass line of “Face of the Girl,” I knew the EP was not going to disappoint. Every single song on the record sounds incredibly thick and powerful, thanks to the driving chops of drummer Erik Williams and the heavy, low-tuned guitar goodness of Jacob Nelson and Chris Rowe. Throw this all under Wally’s aggressive, yet heart felt voice and you have a huge melodic sound that’s reminiscent of Chevelle in the early 2000’s.
After a few listens though, I was impressed, but not blown away. The EP lacked variety and sounded rather formulaic. Granted, the post grunge style is heavily reliant on the pop song formant, but every time I got to “Push-Over,” the final and weakest track on the record, I started getting bored of the repetition.
Despite this, the songs still get stuck in my head, almost daily it seems. They’re really catchy, and I would not be surprised to see Echo Effect’s sound and style to evolve to something more unique and original. For a debut, it’s not bad by any means, but I know this band can do better, and I certainly hope that The Beauty in Disaster is the start of something beautiful!