Vanna

A New Hope

[2/5]

A New Hope is interesting for about 30 seconds. The first guitar riff heard on Vanna’s sophomore full-length is unsteady, slightly distorted and painstakingly detuned. You can’t quite tell what direction the band are heading; will they be ripping off Sonic Youth or Foo Fighters? The anticipation is almost tantalizing. Then “Into Hell’s Mouth We March” starts, and funtime’s over. The remaining 41 minutes of A New Hope is achingly pro forma screamo/post-hardcore. Every riff and breakdown is a copy of a copy of a copy; there’s absolutely nothing of note to say about the album itself, only that it exists. The only thing left to wonder about this gray lump of by-the-numbers bark ’n’ croon is whether they meant the title “The Sun Sets Here” to refer to their genre, or just their careers. (EPITAPH; epitaph.com) Phil Freeman