Album Review: City In Fiction - Laughing In The Dark EP

Unless you know just about every band in the world that has a myspace or purevolume page, chances are that City In Fiction will be a new band to you. I had never heard the band mentioned before, and a quick look at their myspace page shows that the band don’t seem to be getting much exposure. Is this because the music doesn’t warrant exposure, to put it simply: No.

So, the music, well I suppose they remind me a bit of ‘War All The Time’ era Thursday, and I can definitely hear shades or Armor For Sleep, and I guess they remind me in ways of a lot of American ‘dark-emo’ bands.

The EP kicks off with ‘Dark Holes and Moonlight’ and it’s a song which basically sums up the style of the band, it has the dark lyrics, intricate guitars, and vocalist Albert’s vocals fit the music perfectly, everything just seems to work. I think this song in particular would not sound out of place at all on Armor For Sleep’s ‘What To Do When You Are Dead’ which is definitely not a bad thing.

Next song is ‘I Liked It Better When You Didn’t Speak’ which shows the band’s slightly poppier side, it maintains it’s dark undertones, while being really uplifting at the same time, and is definitely one of the highlights of this EP.

This is followed by ‘Send’em To The ‘Lectric Chair’ which again delivers more of the same, it’s dark without being too dark, it’s poppy but without being too poppy, it’s technical but without being too technical, but again, the song can’t be faulted and is another excellent track.

Next up is ‘Shave Damage’ which is the track that reminds me of Thursday more than any other, Albert could easily be mistaken for Thursday’s Geoff Rickly, to the point where I’m half expecting him to start screaming about a car crash.

The EP closes with ‘The Vizzerdrix’ which is again, more of the same, and ends the release the way it began. It’s a good end to a good EP.

Technically this band are amazing, and they have found a sound that suits them absolutely perfectly. The only criticism I do have is that with this EP, if you’ve heard a couple of tracks, you’ve pretty much heard them all. That being said, this is a debut EP, and the band have room for improvement, and I think with a little bit of diversity between songs, this band could be onto something really, really special.

As I mentioned earlier in the review, the band don’t seem to be getting much exposure, so let me be one of the first… Hey, there’s this band called City In Fiction from Miami, you should 100% go and check them out.

3.5/5

You can find more info on this band and this release at: http://www.myspace.com/cityinfiction

Daniel Ferguson