When guitarist and vocalist Chuck Ragan decided to leave post-hardcore heroes Hot Water Music, his bandmates had the choice of pursuing other musical options or simply continuing under a new name. As they chose the later option, it’s surprising that The Draft bear so little resemble to their predecessor on their full-length debut. Shout-along choruses, straightforwardly chugging guitars, sing-songy hooks – this is music that could fit just as easily on MTV as on the Vans Warped Tour. “Let It Go� skips along with a slight ska-punk lilt, with a roller rink organ carrying the verses. The mid-tempo “All We Can Count On� even incorporates a xylophone to add a dainty counterpoint to the throaty choruses. The majority of the album feels a bit too calculated, so glossy and eager to please that it loses much of its punk edge, and there’s little to distinguish it from the sea of modern rock bands plying their trade in arenas across the country. As a whole, the songs are bold and brash but largely indistinctive, the work of a band that knows what they do so well that they fail to endeavor to do anything else.
~ Matt Fink
Release date: September 12, 2006
Buy Album from CD Universe
