Chicosci - Chicosci

Chicosci - Chicosci
Year : 2006

Track Listing
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1. A Promise
2. Chicosci Vampire Social Club
3. Seven Black Roses
4. Sweet Maria
5. The Devil Made Me Do It
6. Knives
7. Manila Teenage Death Squad
8. You're Killing Me
9. Last Look
10. Matinee
11. Pink Hearts, Yellow Stars
12. January Days

“Vampires neverrrr dddiieeeee!!!”

I can still remember like it was just yesterday when Miggy Chavez was still "kup-kupawing" and trying oh-so hard to scream with his small little girly-like voice. Oh those were the days. But I had more respect for them back then since they were actually trying their best to sound so 'hard-core'. But Miggy & Co. could never really pull off that 'kupaw' sound anyways. But I have to admit. I did get suckered in when I heard that 'Paris' song. So when did these jackoffs go "EMO" while I wasn't looking? Did they all wake up one day and just decided to cut off their balls so they can wear those tight skinny pants. So tight that now you can see their cameltoes poking through their groins? But I digress. Now let's talk about the music. Their new found music.

The problem with pinoy bands nowadays is that instead of coming up with something original, they tend to follow or jump the latest bandwagon thats happening in the states or try to sound more Parokya than Parokya Ni Edgar. A lose-lose situation if you ask me. Since you'll just be lumped in with the other bands that sound like the others. And instead of Chicoskee working and building on the sound that they had made with Icarus, they decided that it's best and more marketable (sice emo is so uso), to just strip down their sound, lose their edgier and more haunting dark sound and pray that the TRL kids are stupid enough to buy into their scheme. And EUREKA!!! It worked like a charm.

So what does the new album have to offer and why does Miggy look like he can get his ass kicked by my little sister? The latter is easy to answer. But this new album is like My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday all rolled into one but with weaker vocals. It's pretty much power chords, a mascara and lyrics that run the gamut from death, love lost, death and.... death. With the opener and first single 'A Promise' leading the fray, these guys... I mean vampires, are dead serious about their musical mutation. Gone are those experimental guitar riffs that you heard on Icarus. Replaced by power chords with the occasional solo voicings. Even the 2nd track: 'Chicosci Vampire Social Club' is your standard emo affair. Whiny vocals with the occasional machine gun drumming, to give the song a boost. I did bob my head on 'Sweet Maria'. But as much as the intro and verse (kinda) rocked, the chorus made me want to take off my ears and feed them to my dogs. What the fuck is up with the background vocals singing "ohh-hoo-oooohhh!" in this weird out of tune harmonizing?

Speaking of vocals. Oh God the vocals. Next to Jamir Garcia, Miguel has got to be one of the worst vocalist that ever existed on God's green earth. Ok I am exaggerating. But whether he is yelling or screaming or whining, he just can't hit a note to save his life. Now I am not saying that you have to have a voice like Basti or Kevin Roy to be a respected rockstar, but for God's sake, HIT A NOTE! Miggy is either flat or.....flatter. There is just no way of going around it. A song will come on with some decent music, but once Miggy comes in with that frog voice of his, everything just goes down the drain. I am not going to apologize for sounding so harsh, but what he does to my ears is 10x much more inexplicable. Truth be told, the other Chicosci aren't a bad group of musicians. It's just Miguel is more of a crutch to them than a vocalist.

OK one more gripe. What the fuck do they need a so-called percussionist for a band that already has a drummer? It's not like their sound is so unique that a percussionist is needed. He is like the DJ on Slipknot or Incubus. He's there, but no one really pays any attention to him. Moving on....

Chicosci pretty much fails on every musical level. The rest of the tracks are pretty much molded out of the same Avon make-up kit. You can listen to the whole album and not one song is going to make you hit that repeat button. And that's the beef that I have with this album. Innovative is clearly not in their vocabulary, since each song contains all the emo cliches that you will find in other cliched emo albums. I'm talking about mundane, overly dramatic whiny vocals and guitar licks that doesn't do the emo genre any justice. Emo is already tainted by the mainstream media and these guys are not helping any. And from what I can tell they clearly talked about sounding like the previous bands that I mentioned without even taking in consideration being original. Gerard Way? Are you listening to this crap?

Chicosci. 12 tracks of emo cliches. 12 tracks of Miggy straining his voice so he can reach a note. 12 tracks that sound like you've heard of them before. What makes the kids gaga over them? Well its for damn sure not for their musical ingenuity! So what could it be then? My best bet? Probably their image. They make death and low self-esteem so romantic. And with the pinoy mentality of 'Image is everything', Chicoskee is dead serious about turning everyone into the dark side. To the point of calling their fans: VAMPIRES. Bunch of bullshit if you ask me. If only those Chicosci boys focused more on creating music than spending all their time putting eyeliner on each other, this album would have sounded a smidge better than what it is right now. But bad music is still bad music with or without eyeliner.

Now you emo kids can hate me all you want or tell me Im just too old to get it. Or start cutting yourselves and tell your parents how much you hate them and how much you want to become a vampire. Go ahead. It still won't take away the fact that what you are listening to is garbage music. And if you start calling this crap post-punk or post-hardcore or post hardcore-power-pop-punk or whatever 'post' that you can think of to try and distance yourself from this EMO crap, imma take youse blade and start cutting you myself. And this time Im going for the jugular!!!