Ice Nine Kills (INK) continues the modern trend of pop bands trying to be hardcore with heavy instrumentals and pop vocals and a sprinkling of uninteresting, boring screaming. INK’S new release The Burning on Redblue Records does show some promise in regards to the heavy guitars and drumming, but INK failed to sell me on its attempt to blend hardcore with pop and emo. While the album isn’t a total failure, the band is unable to create a unique identity and some listeners will find it hard to distinguish INK from the countless other pop-punk/screamo/emo bands currently flooding the market.

“The Greatest Story Ever Told” starts without a pretty impressive guitar solo but quickly moves into pop vocals mixed in with spurts of screaming. While I have no problem with bands employing two styles of vocals, INK’S brand of screamo is rather bland. The band claims Every Time I Die (ETID) as an influence, but does little to emulate ETID’s ability to play fierce hardcore with both screaming and rock vocals. “In The Throws Of A Moral Quandry” isn’t much different than its predecessor only it sounds more emo, think early Saves The Day. However, Grant’s driving drumbeats are pretty impressive and keep this song rather interesting. “Dead Is The New Black” is a bit of mess in that the band tries to mix heavy guitars, rock guitars, driving drum beats, hardcore and pop vocals and seems to get lost at every turn. There is just too much going on in this track to get a real sense of the creative direction Ink was going for. However when the song slows down at the 2:54 mark there is pretty cool but rather short guitar solo, indicating the band can play.

“You Scathed My Anchor” has a shredding guitar intro backing some of the only good screaming vocals on the album. The sad thing is, INK has the ability to lay down some pretty intense metal but then they break out the disappointing pop vocals. It’s easy to envision them as another cookie-cutter MTV screamo band. “Build Your Own Disaster” is yet another MTV-friendly pop-punk (using the term “punk” loosely) anthem that sounds just like the boring material being put out by the likes of Good Charlotte and Yellowcard.

“What I Should’ve Learned In Study Hall” is a classic emo acoustic ballad similar to Dashboard Confessional. The acoustic guitarwork by Spence and Jeremy is pretty impressive and this would have worked well as an instrumental with an acoustic bass and subtle bongo laying down the beat. This is another track that will no doubt get the teenage girls screaming and covering their walls and Myspace pages with the guys from INK. “Last Words” has really strong rock guitar sound back by fierce drum beats and some of the better vocal work on the album. When INK plays rock, as they do in this song, they verge on a sound that fits their abilities instead of trying to fit their abilities into the pop-punk mold craved by record labels and marketers.

For the most part, I was less than impressed with The Burning. INK definitely has the talent to lay down some heavy metal and rock but the band loses its sense of self when it tries to fit into the pop-punk mold. The screaming vocals work well the band lays down the shredding guitars and pumping drum beats, but they don’t fit when mixed with the pop guitars and slower drums. This album is a 2.5 out 5 based solely on the bands promise and my desire to see them shed their screamo sound in favor of a more metal/hardcore direction on their next album

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