I Hate Kate - Embrace The Curse

Band: I Hate Kate

Album: Embrace The Curse

Label: Glassnote

My introduction to I Hate Kate started with their 2005 Act One EP.  The most endearing track, "Bed of Black Roses," combined electronic synthesizers with bouncy pop, rock, and punk.  Before long I fell victim to the song's infectious rhythms, and for the life of me, I just couldn't get that catchy chorus out of my head.  Their 2008 (or 2007, depending on where you're from) full length followup, Embrace The Curse, finds the band drawing upon those same infectious melodies for a more formal debut.  

Upon starting up the album, my first thought was "haven't I heard this before?"  And since the first song is actually a rerecorded version of "Bed of Black Roses," I mean that in the most literal sense.  However, the band has significantly tweaked their catchy gem.  While the original version opened with guitars, the new version eases the listener in with mellow violin strokes.   But the biggest difference is actually the track's highs and lows.  Vocally the lead singer doesn't hit notes quite as high as in the original - particularly during the chorus - and instrumentally the bass packs significantly less "punch."  The changes don't necessarily detract from the song, but as someone who found the original version addictive, the alterations made the song less a little memorable.  The 12 track album actually includes two more Act One rerecordings as well.  "I'm in Love with a Sociopath" and "It's Always Better" both fall victim to tweaking, but emerge catchier and more addictive because of it.  "I'm in Love with a Sociopath" adds some fancy opening vocal flourishes and superior piano work, and "It's Always Better" evens out some rough patches.  But new songs make up the bulk of the release.

Generally, the new songs follow the band's basic blueprint, but this time the band more clearly defines I Hate Kate's focus.  The result resembles a combination of A Kiss Could Be Deadly's elecro-pop ditties, with a healthy dose of Mindless Self Indulgence's darker, more chaotic electronic side.  The combination comes together most noticeably in "Then You Kiss" and "Major Tim (Coming Home)."  "Then You Kiss" grabbed me the same way "Bed of Black Roses" did three years ago - hard and without mercy.  While I doubt it'll penetrate my dreams like the latter did, it still put me in musical high.  However, the album also has a few stinkers.  When the band slows down their tempo and strips away their electronic flourishes they write some pretty boring radio rock.  "It's You," "Love Association," and to a lesser extent "Story I Can't Write," crawl along at a painful pace, "boasting" some of the most cliched break-up lyrics anywhere - in other words, they're songs best avoided.

Overall, Embrace The Curse does a fine job of introducing newcomers to I Hate Kate.  Retaining only their catchiest three tracks from their EP, the band writes a handful of equally memorable tunes.  While some tracks don't quite make the mark, they certainly don't ruin the album.  Hopefully the band eventually finds a way to increase their slower tracks' listenability,  but for now, simply cropping the album by a few tracks makes for a quite an enjoyable listen.