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For a pop rock band straight out of Edmonton, got to hand it to them they aren’t all that bad, as a matter of fact they’re actually pretty good. This being Ten Second Epic’s third album, Hometown brings a lot to the table and hits quite a few good notes. I can honestly say that listening to this album for the first time, there was maybe one song on the entire album that I liked but after a second listen through I found that there is actually much to like about it.

For starters I must apologize for not writing in my typical fashion, and this review will be a tad shorter than many of my others due to a variety of things going on at the moment. Now that that is out of the way I’d like to begin by saying that Hometown plays to a very upbeat and fast tempo that makes for a very enjoyable album to listen to while on the road. It’s just one of those albums that makes you feel good to be where you are and sort of puts you in that moment where everything feels like it’s going to work out.

The entire album is a tribute of sorts to their home of Edmonton and plays to themes of love, going the distance, never quitting, and growing up. Not the most original of themes as I could name a good many other bands that play to exact same chord on a ton of other albums. It’s all been overdone in this day and age to such an extent that you could almost watch this album slip into the crowd and totally blend in if it weren’t for the way to which the themes were presented.

I can’t even say much about the actual lyrics here, they just feel so dull and unoriginal that if it weren’t for the band’s musical styling and ability to play so incredibly, this album wouldn’t have garnered much attention from me whatsoever. These guys just really know how to play and sell it to the masses, they are very addicting to listen to and they have much to flaunt concerning their musical prowess, I think if they worked a bit more at straying away from the norm in terms of writing, they would be even better. Then again doing that would make them less mainstream and would probably lose a huge chunk of their fan base doing anything out of the norm, so in other words the direction they went with Hometown was exactly what they needed. It’s mainstream but it sells, and even though I usually don’t falter towards the pure overly mainstream stuff, Ten Second Epic has always been a favourite of mine just because of their fast paced music and amazing guitar riffs.Everything just plays so smoothly and to such a beat and tempo it’s hard not to lose yourself at points.

Hometown has very many memorable songs but the two that I would say I listen to on a daily basis would have to be “Life Times” and “Welcome To Wherever You Are”. “Life Times” was the very first song I liked off of the album. I really can’t explain why I love this song so much, it was just love at first listen, but like any relationship, this one has sort of died down over the last little bit. I’ve just listened to it so much that it’s almost lost any and all meaning. Listen to it and you may understand why, but it’s definitely one of the best songs on the album. Then there’s “Welcome To Wherever You Are”, this song at first eluded to me as to why I started to like it but after a while it became very apparent. If you listen to the beginning guitar riffs off of both this song and U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Names” you can note a couple similarities between the two. “Where The Streets Have No Names” has got to be one of my 100 all time favourite songs, so “Welcome To Wherever You Are” sharing certain similarities with that song just made an instant connection with myself. Other memorable songs off of Hometown would have to include “Yours To Lose”, “Every Day” which features LIGHTS, a good friend of the band, and “Windows”, possibly the only slow paced song on the album that reminds me of The Offspring’s song “Fix You”.

Overall Hometown is a very enjoyable album that seems to be reminiscent of a variety of different bands while keeping to their own sound at the same time. They seem to play to the same key as many other cookie cutter bands out there but overall it’s their musical prowess that brings them above all that. The vocals also help a great deal and add to their own sound, and although the vocals are sometimes a bit irritating, it’s a pretty easy obstacle to get over. Ten Second Epic have definitely done well with this album and should definitely continue in this direction although it may be the direction that most bands are taking these days into the mainstream pop/rock sensation but it suits them and I couldn’t see them doing it any other way. So if you want something fast paced, full of energy and pumped chock full of amazing guitar riffs, check out Hometown, it’s catchy and it’s pop.

7.0/10

Life Times by Ten Second Epic
Welcome To Wherever You Are by Ten Second Epic
Yours To Lose by Ten Second Epic

Tags: album