‘Breakup music for tough guys’, at least that’s how Miami formed rock band Phantom Drive’s describe their latest self-titled EP. The question is, with every scene saturated with ‘breakup music’, do they have what it takes to standout among the lot?
Well, the debut creation this quintet has created is a long shot from revolutionary. Interestingly, alt-rock, grunge tinted ‘Beautiful Liars’ is the highlight of the EP, while giving an overall approach to the rest of the album. A gritty attempt creating 3minutes 30 seconds of a rather fun listen. ‘Better’ captures the release’s catchy hooks, choruses that will stay in your head a little longer than 5 minutes and good musicality that mainly sticks around. Yet, track ‘Say What You Will’, while having the good quality and same gritty attempt, just doesn’t live up in terms of song structure. If anything, it just falls flat. Even ‘Brand New’ falls a little low at times. By no means are these tracks terrible, or even bad, they just sadly don’t bring a new intriguing listen to set them apart. Debut releases are hit-and-miss. Phantom Drive already have the catchy musicality set through tracks ‘Better’ and ‘Beautiful Liars’, and just need to expand further.
Phantom Drive have their EP ready and released, but what else can really be said? Phantom Drive just don’t quite have enough to launch themselves into the music Jetstream just yet. Maybe with their next release, maybe not.
Rating: 6/10
EUPHORIA OF BREAKDOWN 