Monty Are I

Monty Are I

Break Through The Silence

[3/5]



After the dissolution of Stolen Transmission, an Island Records hipster-centric imprint label, it was uncertain what would happen to its roster. Rhode Island fivesome Monty Are I were one of the failed label’s best and most promising selections–the band’s hook-laden pop-punk numbers were both catchy and original enough not to sound rehashed. So it was a smart move on Island’s part when the major label snatched the band up for the follow-up to 2006’s Wall Of People.



Considering that, it’s understandable thatBreak Through The Silence, a louder, more anthemic selection of catchy rock songs, sounds like a major-label record. Producers Matt Squire (Panic! At The DIsco) and Don Gilmore (Linkin Park), both known for popping out hit singles, have taken the group’s catchy rock riffs and sing-along choruses and transformed them into thickly produced, radio-ready songs that put them somewhere in the realm of Story Of The Year and 30 Seconds To Mars. “Hope” is grandiose, with surging layers of guitars, keys and singer Ryan Muir’s glossy vocals, and “The Stand” builds with into an overdramatic arena rock song. The genuinely likeable elements from Wall Of People are here, but they are buried under piles of production, and everything is so polished that it’s become blurred together. And the horn section the band previously employed? Completely nonexistent. Break Through The Silence is a passable radio-rock album, but it’s unclear whether that’s the record Monty Are I was aiming to create. (ISLAND) Emily Zemler



GO DOWNLOAD: “Making Sounds”

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