For a band that has some clear talent behind their ability to play, seeing it wasted in what is essentially an unoriginal, and altogether mess of an album is quite disheartening. Although it isn’t all rain clouds and depression for Next To None, there are some rays of light that shines through the issues and give it at least some redeeming qualities.
The main problem arises when you turn on A Light In The Dark and listen to the first track. ‘The Edge of Sanity’, is sadly one of the most confusing, and in places, hard to listen to metal tracks I’ve heard in a while. The clean vocals are cringe worthy and almost sound out of tune, and not a single person should have thought adding sound board buttons the middle of their track was a good idea. From this point on you’re just left sitting in your chair awkwardly waiting for the next faux pas.
Like we’ve already pointed out, there are some redeeming factors, the unclean vocals are really quite good, and the riffs are heavy and a good head banging treat, the heavy guitar work of ‘Runaway’ is the perfect example of a band that has some ability, but with a couple of messy additions, and sloppy writing just ruins the album.
It’s clear that the band has gotten some of its influences from the likes of Dream Theater, not just because legendry drummer Mike Portnoy’s son is in the band, but they clearly haven’t taken enough from it to make a coherent and listenable album. There are points throughout where you think they’ll redeem themselves, but in the end they resort to their unoriginal and overall boring sound.
Tried and tested sounds – just like a good wine – can go one of two ways, they can age fantastically and oftentimes grow better in age, then you have those that turn sour and unpalatable. Unfortunately Next To None have gone the way of vinegar. It’s not exactly painful to listen to, but it’s not going to inspire anyone, and it’s not going to last long in anyone’s car stereo, which is a shame as technically they have some talent, it’s just not being utilised.
