Makaras Pen: Makaras Pen

Makaras Pen: Makaras Pen
Tearwave was one of the most promising up-and-coming bands from Buffalo, NY. Signed to Projekt Records, their debut album garnered a fair amount of critical acclaim. Unfortunately, guitarist Doug White left the band and the group broke up. With a new guitarist, the band has become Makaras Pen.
On their self-titled debut album, Makaras Pen makes moody music that straddles the line between modern rock and shoegaze. The album’s opening track “Currents” has a dark passive/aggressive feel to similar to bands like Evanescence. The verses feature mainly acoustic guitars while the chorus amps it up with an arena rock echoed guitars. Lead singer Emma Willis’ voice reminds me of Cranberries‘ vocalist, Dolores O’Riordan. The track, however, feels a little passe. It seems like something that would have been big in the mid-90s but has little place in modern music.
This problem haunts the album. Take the album’s other focus track “Falling Deeper” for instance. Even The Edge would tell them to turn down the reverb on the guitars. Reverb was an awesome effect in the 80s but has grown old, yet they apply the same production techniques to the vocals. No one has echoed female vocals like this since “Linger” was a hit, even the Cranberries dumped the effect by the time 1996’s To the Faithful Departed was released.
Despite these intrinsic gaffs, the album does have some upside. The song writing is fairly solid. The group features collegiate music majors, so they know their stuff but technical proficiency still does not overcome the album’s shortcomings. In the end, the album has to be considered a disappointment.
Rating: 2.1/10
MP3: Makaras Pen “Falling Deeper”
Buy: iTunes