• Band / Artist : Unknown Component – mySpace
• Genre : Rock / Pop
• Sample Track Download : N/A
• Buy CD : CD Baby
• Buy Digital Download : iTunes
• Rating : 7 out of 10

Although I get many people contacting Indie Launchpad to submit their material, only now and then does something catch my ear, that brings back fond memories of my youth, as was the case with Unknown Component. Harkening back to the days of addled, angst ridden punk, this is a sound that I haven’t heard in a long while. It’s at times like the Ramones and then it has a more contemporary sound, akin to the OffSpring or Green Day. I do have to get a bit of a major gripe out of the way, the sound quality on this CD isn’t the greatest. The vocals are very muffled and towards the end of the CD, you almost feel relieved it’s nearly over. I understand many bands employ relatively lo-fi recording methods, but this to me is a little sub par. This is a shame as there’s some great songs here.

Opening with “Into the Sun”, instantly there’s that feeling of a someone singing, with their two fingers firmly raised in definance at the world, kind of like Sid Vicious, with his rendition of My Way. The mood softens slightly with “It’s a Fine Line” and it’s here that I feel most comfortable with the bands sound, audio quality permitting.

“Retrospectively Speaking”, musically takes a different direction, but it’s an awkward marriage of, contemporary pop/rock music, with a punk style vocal, something that doesn’t quite sit right. A similar thing can be said of “Between Guilt and Relief”, this time the track is more Ultravox or Depeche Mode with the airy synth. The vocals adapt to fit the music, but I much prefer the more edgy and raw vocals.

Towards the middle of the CD, things seems to tread water, especially in comparison to the opening tracks. Things begin to pickup again with “Identifying Interpretation”. With a very 80’s rock build up, it really comes as a relief and again the album begins to get back into it’s stride. “Brought Up to be Put Down” is certainly very reminiscent of Green Day, which is no bad thing. It’s also a very nicely paced track.

The final two tracks, “Never Ceases to Remain Unchanged” and “The Inconsistent System” round things off nicely. While I have my gripes with the sound quality, it’s the middle of the CD, where things loose their way a bit, but it recovers nicely.

Conclusion : The sound quality will definitely annoy the audio purist, but if you can look past that, there are some great tunes here.