Progressive Rock and Emo. Since coheed and cambria it’s possible to get away with a on first sight unusual combination. And that Coheed is an influence to lots of bands is proved by newcomers Crackjaw.

‘Giants from the stereo’ is their album called. It’s an combination of thechnical music and some emo/hardcore lines. A mixture of Refused, Coheed and Cambria and Rush. They also mention Candiria, but forget that. Candiria operates from a way more metal way and has also different patterns than Crackjaw uses.

However, about this record. It took some time to get into it. When the first 2 songs are over, I almost threw it out of my window cause of the fragile vocals, the standard things that pass and the repeating poppy chorusses.

However, in song 3 there comes the first surprising things, like the stretched out vocal line in ‘Spent Time Milkshaken’ or the agressive refused influenced parts in ‘Eric Decision’ and the up tempo song ‘Spirit Week’. I have the feeling they show their real identity with these songs, Singer Ian sounds more secure of what he’s doing. And the structure gets better and the music gets meaner and faster. A good thing for Crackjaw.

This record leaves me with mixed feelings. I have the feeling that not everything comes out like they ment to, sometimes they’re sounding too poppy sometimes mean and hard. But that can be a matter of taste. They have the capabiltiesw to write a better record. This is a nice start.