In This Moment
Beautiful Tragedy

August 2007
Released: 2007, Century Media
Rating: 2.0/5
Reviewer: Waspman

As the story goes, Maria Brink and Chris Howarth are star-crossed musicians, meant to be in a band together and create stunning music. OK, not really, but the genesis of this new band called In this Moment goes back to 2005 when the aforementioned pair met each other and realized they had similar musical aspirations. In the intervening time, they’ve finalized the band, played shows with some “metal-questionable” acts like 36 Crazyfists, Diecast, and Walls of Jericho, and attracted the attention of the mighty Century Media records.

Unfortunately, I have to say that if this is the caliber of band that Century Media is going to be signing, they’re in trouble. I mean, I understand why the picked up In This Moment. They’re trendy (metalcore!), have the “dour youth” image down pat, and best of all, they’re fronted by a woman! It’s like three fads for the price of one!

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m not big on this band, or their album. Simply put, BEAUTIFUL TRAGEDY is a ridiculously self-important trend-rider of an album that is totally devoid of personality in a sea of metalcore clones. I guess that musically, there is nothing technically wrong with the band, as the album does have several catchy riffs and intriguing melodies. Maria’s vocals are another story. She has three distinct styles of singing: annoying screech, atonal “moan” clean vocals, and OK real clean vocals. She single-handedly wrecks most of my enjoyment of the album. And please, don’t mistake my meaning. It’s not that she has her own personality and style, as I have no issue with a performer carving their own niche; it’s that her performance sucks.

Anyway, I’m sure the band could care less what I say, as it’s onwards and upwards with the Century Media machine behind them. Plus, I have no doubt that the Hot Topic crowd will love this for about five minutes until the next clone comes around, but real metal fans be warned – this is Trend with a capital “T”.