The October - Bye Bye Beautiful

If there's one thing The October can do, it's create a mood. Their second album, ...Bye Bye Beautiful is an endeavor as crisp as the month their name invokes. Unlike their seasonal namesake, however, they have yet to create something terribly different or unique. Stuck somewhere between modern indie rock and new wave, ...Beautiful is not a terribly memorable or unique album, but what they lack there they make up for with toe-tapping melodies and a cool, heady mood that permeates the piece through and through. Dustin Burnett's voice pierces song after song with a rich and powerful tone. The musicality of the album, however, has very little left to offer, as nearly every song plods along at the same safe, moderate speed: never slowing and rarely speeding up. [www.theoctober.com]