Graceful Degradation

Hailing from Illinois, Red Letter Merchant's eight track debut lands them squarely in the mainstream. That might sound like damning with faint praise, but really it's not - any band that is capable of bringing new fans to rock music who might potentially explore what else is out there that doesn't get the airplay does a good job.

And quality-wise, this is a good product. The five-piece work very well together as a cohesive unit, with no one member outshining the others or hogging the spotlight. Jason Ritter's bass adds an intensity to tracks such as Numb, Jarad Mitchell and Camron Yates on guitars make a solid partnership, while Scott Neuweg's drums underpin the whole particularly well, such as on opening track Every Life Apart. You can hear how good the drums are without them having to overwhelm everything else. Very well balanced. Then you also have Mitchell and vocalist Ryan Louis sharing duties on the piano, which adds a whole other layer, such as the intro to Words Are Weapons.

Louis again slots into the group with his vocals rather than standing apart from it. Backing harmonisation is used to great effect as well, again without being OTT. Louis has a certain intensity in his singing that works best with the tracks that play up the bass and take on a darker tone with minor chords - Numb, Burning Alive and As I Feel - although his primal screams on Words Are Weapons come as a bit of a surprise. And then the whole thing gets totally stripped back to basics, just a voice and a guitar for final track Never Closer.

Yes, it's mainstream - think Nickelback and Shinedown - but I can't always be buried in the sleaze scene. That would be just as limiting as if I didn't move out of the mainstream, and it would mean missing out on quality debuts like this one. It's eight tracks, just over half an hour in length, and a sign of great things to come.