Falling Sickness

Because The World Has Failed Us Both (Hopeless)
by Rowan-Morrison

Being derivative is nothing new, especially when only about 10% of the recent market is innovative, and only half of that is any good. Punk bands, however, don’t get crucified as much as they should because many of their recycled blueprints are from bands that never reached the spotlight. Falling Sickness, for example, has the hook-bloated energetic punk style that calls to mind Crimpshrine and Operation Ivy (sans the ska). The traditional fast and plunky riffs are meshed with scratchy, yet coherent vocals, creating a question mark as to whether this is a ’98 or an ’88 release. Fortunately, the majority who invest in three-chord commodities are more concerned with formula than originality. Not only does Falling Sickness effectively replicate, but many of the bands they emulate probably haven’t breached their high-school clientele’s CD players.