I went back and visited their debut album and found more of a Radiohead/Muse sound to it than any resemblance of NIN. Kind of makes you wonder if the critics really listened. Their new album Urgency seems to disregard the fear of comparison though and leaves you with the nagging feeling that you’ve been here before.

ism's newest album urgency is so hard for me to review because it’s so similar to the debut of both The Killers and The Bravery. There are only a few songs that don’t remind me of the two above mentioned albums. Lead Singer Andre Mistier has a voice that slips in and out between both bands lead singers with a little bit of recognition from artists like Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) and David J (Love and Rockets Bauhaus). Even the band seems to dip in and out of song structures that somewhat resembles the other bands. So despite the fact that their capable it’s all a question of how original is the album on a whole? It’s impossible for me to decide. All I can offer as a critique on the band and their album is that if you’re a fan of The Killers or The Bravery then chances are you’re going to love this album a lot or hate it a lot. Deciding is all politics. I advise you to head over to their official band page and their MySpace page and listen to their songs and decide for yourselves. I’m torn.

Keep in mind that all three bands emerged on the scene around the same time. Most importantly both ism and The Bravery emerged in 2003 and both come from New York.

http://www.myspace.com/ism

www.ismmusic.com

*ism prefers, and let’s face it must abide by copy write laws, to be typed out in all lower case letters. Ism (with a capital I) is the name of a punk band from the 80's. The two are not the same.

-AJ Garcia has been a writer for Shakefire.com since 2007. 

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