Atari Star, The - Prayer + Pretend – Johanns Face Records
Reviewed by Peter 3-30-2005

Nice album with a variety of sounds. Solid all around, so play what sounds appealing. At times prog-metal, sometimes straight-up metal, and even pop/indie rock on occasion. The vocals tend to reflect the style of the song in general and range from relatively deep and dark to something like James Labire (Dream Theater) mixed with Freddy Mercury.
For more metal/heavier tracks 1 seems radio-groomed and 7 is good.
Tracks 8-10 take the album in a different direction in a way that I liked. Less metal, but still rockin’. Track 6 even goes so far as to be soothing.

FCC Clean
1. * 2:51 – Up-tempo, driving, heavy rock. Solid guitars push the song while male vocal lead comes over clearly. I don’t want to say “catchy” but certainly accessible. Ends abruptly.
2. 4:26 – Starts with shrieky guitars and higher vox. Heavier guitar comes in strong and steady and brings the track back to a progressive-metal sound.
3. 3:08 – Mid-tempo, choppy track. Vox take lead on this track, shouting about The Man. Instrumentation comes in mostly as accents for much of the song, and includes a high, sharp trumpet.
4. 4:31 – (Watch the fake ending at about 2:00) Mid-tempo, but more down-beat that other tracks. Starts with very heavy drums. Includes a cello, controlled guitars, higher vox and general Dream Theater-feel
5. 2:47 – Down-tempo, sparser, more disjointed (vox seem separated from guitar and other vox that come in). More experimental, not bad.
6. 6:25 – Track 5 continues to fade out at beginning. Down-tempo, spacey, definitely “progressive.” Simple, repetitive lyrics. Very soothing, actually.
7. * 4:13 – Mid-tempo, hard, driving, metal. No-nonsense guitars, deeper vox singing metal lyrics (i.e. absurdly silly if thought of outside the dissonant guitars, but I guess they work for the genre). Song loses a little energy in the middle, but picks up again towards the end (which is abrupt).
8. * 3:29 – Mid-tempo, starts out with melodic vox and restrained energy that eventually crescendos towards the middle and end. Cool, simple, riff underneath.
9. * 4:33 – Down-tempo, chill, quiet song with accordion and strummed, undistorted guitar. Simple, straightforward, no gimmicks (even the accordion is tastefully done); only slight crescendos of energy. I really liked it.
10. * 4:56 – Mid-tempo, but upbeat and high-energy. Not as heavy or dissonant, but still rockin’. Safe to call this a pop song and a solid one at that.

Chicago rock, on the post-rock cusp. Dissonant fuzz guitar, drummer gets a workout, strained male vocals.