Formulas are great for calculating standard deviations and figuring out all there is to know about our good friend the triangle. The formula doesn’t hold up as well when it comes to rock music though. It’s true that thousands of great songs have been made using the standard verse-chorus-verse formula, but contrary to what far too many bands believe, strict religious adherence to this recipe will not produce a good song.
This is the major fault of Blinker the Star’s latest album, Still in Rome. The music is a blend of punk, rock and new wave, with some interesting, albeit chunky and repetitious, guitar work. The single song structure starts to wear incredibly thin by the fourth track.
The hooks are obvious to the point of being ridiculous, and it seems as if the only way Blinker the Star knows how to end a song is by repeating the chorus infinitely as the music fades out much too slowly.
If you’re looking for an album that will drive you absolutely insane because you just can’t get the lines "Hey, hey what do you say?/People in the sun got to feel the rays" out of your head, Still in Rome is for you.
If, by chance, you are someone who values their sanity, I would recommend avoiding this one.