{"id":28091,"date":"2013-03-11T21:40:21","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T02:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=28091"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:34:11","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:34:11","slug":"picture-me-broken-mannequins-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/picture-me-broken-mannequins-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Picture Me Broken | Mannequins<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"PicturePicture this: the lush goth-rock of Evanescence entwined with the fragile-yet-powerful vocals of Flyleaf filigreed with some muscular modern hard rock and occasionally sprinkled with some metal-core or scream-core or whatever core you want to call it. That gives you a general gist of the sonic turf upon which Picture Me Broken have chosen to stake their sound.<\/p>\n

Singer Layla Allman (daughter of Gregg Allman, and shame on you if that name doesn\u2019t ring any rock \u2018n\u2019 roll bells) has an Amy Lee-meets-Lacey Sturm quality to her voice while the chugging guitar riffs are ripped right out of the modern hard rock playbook. The band also makes sure to incorporate some screams and growls to jack up their metal credibility and appeal to the Hot Topic crowd. (Shouldn\u2019t \u201cHot Topic metal\u201d be an official genre by now?) It\u2019s not the most original thing you\u2019ll hear this year, but its familiarity is of a decent quality.<\/p>\n

Damning with faint praise \u2026 or praising by lack of overt damnation? Your call. Because you have heard this stuff plenty of times before, perhaps even ad nauseum, but Allman\u2019s vocals have a distinct enough timbre to stand out in a crowded modern rock market and the beefy guitar lines complimented by some electronica flourishes and polished production are good enough to ensure you don\u2019t hate them.<\/p>\n

Like a high-class escort that knows what she\u2019s doing, the songs themselves offer up some nice variety. The opening track \u201cTorture\u201d is anything but, using Gothic undertones and slick keyboards to impact melodically on the ears while also providing a solid hard rock kick to the cochlea. Sealing the deal is a nice commercial chorus that could easily garner some airtime if modern rock radio would pay attention.<\/p>\n

The band morphs from hard rock into metal mode with \u201cMannequins.\u201d Much less mainstream with a heavier sound and serious screams that steer it into melodic metal-core territory. Those screams also prove that Allman is not a one-dimensional vocalist, not just another cute face with a sweet voice; this girl can deliver those harsh vocals like she\u2019s got sandpaper in her throat. This alluring mix of the pretty with the powerful gives this EP whatever edge it may have.<\/p>\n

Mellow follows heaviness in \u201cBeautiful Disguise,\u201d a standard piano ballad, the kind every female hard rock singer seems obligated to perform at some point. Some people can get enough of this stuff; other folks find these slow, melancholy songs cause them to vomit like a bulimic with four fingers tickling their tonsils. You decide which one you are.<\/p>\n

Wrapping things up is \u201cNothing Further From the Truth,\u201d a solid track with a commercial hard rock edge and radio-friendly chorus to accompany the well-done riffs. Original? Uh, no \u2026 but the band makes no claims to originality in their stated intentions. What matters is that they are not lame, and sometimes that is good enough. This is one of those times.<\/p>\n

While it is impossible to call the music perfect\u2014too much \u201cbeen there, heard that\u201d \u2014 this EP does show off the band\u2019s multiple facets and proves they can avoid sounding monotonous. With Allman\u2019s impressive vocal talents leading the way, this band could easily gain some traction in the modern hard rock\/metal market, especially if they sharpen up their edge. They are right on the cusp of being good enough to compete with the big guns, so pay attention to Picture Me Broken \u2026 odds are you haven\u2019t heard the last of them.<\/p>\n

Genre: Modern Hard Rock, Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nLayla Allman (vocals)
\nDante Phoenix (guitar)
\nJimmy Strimpel (guitar)
\nShaun Foist (drums)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. Torture
\n2. Mannequins
\n3. Beautiful Disguise
\n4. Nothing Further From the Truth<\/p>\n

Webpage: www.PictureMeBroken.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Label: Standby Records<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 7\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mark Allen – Senior Columnist — Picture this: the lush goth-rock of Evanescence entwined with the fragile-yet-powerful vocals of Flyleaf filigreed with some muscular modern hard rock and occasionally sprinkled with some metal-core or […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[336,2267,2939,334,5042],"class_list":{"0":"post-28091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2013","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-metal","9":"tag-modern-hard-rock","10":"tag-review","11":"tag-standby-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28091\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}