The year 1992, aside from bringing us Reservoir Dogs and The English Premiership, gave birth to California's hugely under-appreciated Far, whose six years of heartfelt rock inspired the development of mainstream acts such as Thursday and Funeral For A Friend under the guise of 'emo'.
Far's iconic frontman Jonah Matranga prefers to label this brand of music "unedited with one's emotions," a style clearly adopted by his fledgling band Gratitude, which sees Matranga come together with ex-Crumb guitarist and long-time associate Mark Weinberg, with the intention of continuing the trend they helped to start. Drive Away, the first single from their self-titled release, is by no means exceptional - boundaries stay un-pushed and never once does the emo-rock sound become anything but radio friendly - but what Gratitude have going for them is the outstanding vocal ability of Matranga, who wails his way through the anthemic chorus: "Don't drive away, don't leave her this way," with melodic precision and ample variety to carry the unspectacular guitar riffs out of the mundane.
Gratitude ultimately will remind you of a string of recent emo chart-rockers, but through sounding like they actually mean it, my bet is that they will be accepted with open arms.
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