Release Date: September 16, 2009 Label: Just Great Records Related Sites: · Official Site Grade: B

Tweet

These sixteen-year-olds began their music career as Lane Four in 7th grade -- seventh! -- as a cover band nailing classic rock tunes from Heart to Led Zeppelin to Guns N’ Roses.  As they started writing all-original material they changed their name to the more poetically sinister Picture Me Broken and their music veered toward hard rock and popcore. They entered contests, and began to score regular gigs and get exposure on the radio. Accolades escalated with a 2009 MTV Video Music Award as “Best Breakout Bay Area Artist,” performed on the San Francisco stop of the 2009 Vans Warped Tour and opened for Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution.

Don't put me in a box. Picture Me Broken refuses to have their music categorized by any one genre.

The killer title track punishes the listener with a speedy guitar riff before settling into a hooky hard rock palette. It proffers a tale of loving a dangerous guy ("His morals aren’t so well defined") and maintains the groove until the end of the second verse when the repeated line "I can’t find the words to say this/I’m running out of patience" gets a show-stopping howl on the last word. So, that's what they're talking about... melody then screams! On the chorus, Layla's vibrato trill sounds like Gwen Stefani.  The synth-laced breakdown is a prelude to disconcerting switches from delicate dual harmony to screaming on alternating lines.

This opener is helmed by Bay Area based producer Aaron Hellman, with the remaining tracks produced by Andrew Murdock (Avenged Sevenfold).  Perhaps, because of this, "Dearest (I'm So Sorry)" is a delectable tease that is never quite consummated by the rest of the record. "Breaking the Fall" is a rocker with a male/female trade of screaming, while "If I Never Wake Again" is a straight-up piano ballad with vague screaming beneath the darker lyrical lines that slowly builds its instrumental layer and gets its repeated guttural musing in toward the end. Stylistically, "Echoes of an Empire" lends itself to metal influences, while "Devil On My Shoulder" and "Live Forever" have a punk beat, though the latter comes across less harsh.

The songwriting has that endearing imperfection of youngsters still learning their craft, but I do not mean to imply it is juvenile. Layla provides all the lyrics and its got the requisite angsty visuals while not quite adding up to a coherent emotional whole.  The blonde bomber has the vocal attitude to pull off the material and the group is more polished than anyone has a right to expect from such youth.  In the end, I guess it really is melodic screamo, though this reviewer is thankful to be spared any soul-shredding screams. If Picture Me Broken continues to explore the genre diversity they have initiated on Dearest (I'm So Sorry), you can picture me intrigued.