This record gave me a lot of trouble. I was really having a hard time coming up with things to say about it. It’s not like I can usually spit out 250 or more words on an album without much thought (although that’s what it may seem like sometimes), but I usually don’t get pure writer’s block while listening to a record. I didn’t understand how listening to close to 45 minutes of material that I had never heard before could leave me with absolutely nothing to say.
Then it hit me.
This album is one of the blandest things I have ever heard.
It’s not like it’s egregiously bad, as that would give me plenty to say. It’s just that pretty much the entire record has been done before. And then done again. And then a few more times. And then The Drums decided to do it one more time for good measure. And then they decided to not give the album a proper name. All of that led to a pretty uncreative and uninspired piece.
Imagine if The Killers and Phoenix had a baby together. Now this baby would naturally be horribly deformed, as I can’t even imagine what science would have to do in order for a birth like that to be successful. That deformed baby is The Drums. It tries so hard to please both of its parents at the same time, but fails horribly, and will without a doubt be subjected to the mail room of indie bands for all of eternity. Poor deformed The Drums…if only you weren’t so boring.
Swole Ear 
You are a funny kid. I wouldn’t want to cross you and your acid pen. Poor deformed The Drums. But you’re right. There’s derivative and then there’s just plain lame. They need a fresh idea, or, at least, a slightly less stale idea. The one thing I will say is that a Deformed Phoenix/Killer Baby Band might make some interesting music. The Drums should be so lucky.