The Appleseed Cast

Peregrine

[2/5] While the Appleseed Cast are adored for their lucid and melodic atmospheric rock, on their sixth album and Militia Group debut, the band do one better, introducing an elaborate conceptual storyline about a girl named Peregrine–who, after being accidentally killed by her father, returns as a ghost to avenge not her own death, but her father’s life. Got it? Unfortunately, while the story is hard enough to follow, the “live” sound TAC seem to be aiming for via producer John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky) only makes Peregrine muddier. The band’s familiarly warm vocal melodies sometimes poke through the murk, but the bloated jams that surround them often just negate singing altogether. This isn’t to say the songs are all stinkers. “February” ditches the overlong rock-outs for more conventional vocal hooks, with a pulsating beat driving the song’s haunting lyrics. And when “Song 3” arrives nine tracks into the disc, the immediate reaction is “finally!” –as loud as it is crisp, the song rides high on a brilliant melodic line. Too bad the entire disc isn’t as memorable.
(THE MILITIA GROUP) Andrew Martin