Thriving Ivory- Self Titled

Thriving Ivory's self titled begins with the shimmering effect of something that sounds like an organ on "Runaway", and then the signature effect of Thriving Ivory appears to get right in your face: their singer. Their vocalist, Clayton Stroope, and his piercing but objectively impressive high range reminds me of a ballad from an eighties supergroup, but not quite as cheesy. Don't get me wrong, the song is still cheesy, but not as over-the-top and not even close to as sexual as the music of Poison or The Scorpions. which isn't always a bad thing, especially not in this case. What I'm trying to say is it's obviously eighties influenced, and objectively, they're doing okay.
The next track, which presents itself rather quietly, Stroope's voice actually complimenting the soft-rock acoustic guitar and piano-driven riff that permeates the song instead of overpowering it in "Angel on the Moon". Most of the song really sounds like one of those songs you heard in the 90's, almost like Creed. Yeah. A ton like Creed, except with a vocalist that has at least some singing ability.

Jesus I hate Creed.

Alright, next song on the album, "Unhappy" is about a one-night stand, followed by the pursuit of sex. He sounds like Axl Rose. I've figured it out. God I hate Axl Rose. In the chorus, he even offers sex to "you brokenhearted kind" to take their mind off of the state of the world. According to the lyrcs. "For Heaven's Sake" almost redeems the whole thing, but unfortunately the interesting spiritual effect created by the organ and his voice is smothered by the power-ballady message of "believe in yourself and do what you want, even though your life was bad."

This message isn't bad, but Thriving Ivory executes it the same way.

Overall, and throughout the remainder of the album, Ivory really tries hard, but comes off as a sloppy mixture of the Fray, Guns n Roses, and Creed. I really, really, really dislike all three.
But objectively, he sounds like Axl Rose, and the album seems like an attempt to bring back the inspirational, "believe in yourself" message of the nineties.

That's just my opinion.

An album review blog.

It's ridiculously overdone, but I figure since I'm constantly whining about other people's tastes, I should be a little more eloquent and well-spoken. Followers, comment with the name of an album and the artist, and I'll listen to the whole album and either praise its magic or rant about how badly it sucks.

By the way, I'm compeletely aware that what I'm saying is ridiculously pretentious. I promise.