Guitar solos carry album
By Nate Cross
Staff Writer
Sinomatic is a new old band.
 Future
Sinomatic members Ken Cooper (vocals) and Rick Deak (guitar) met in
Ohio in the late '80s and formed a friendship around their love of rock
music. They formed a hard rock band together called Raggedy Ann, but
after some time together the two decided they needed a little bit of
time apart.
They didn’t see each other again until Cooper
began recording some songs and brought them to Deak. After Deak listened
to Cooper’s recordings, the two decided to start working together
again. They added Bryan Patrick (guitar), Dave Markasky (bass) and Matt
Lawrence (drums), and Sinomatic (originally called Vertigogo) was formed.
Sinomatic’s first self-titled album on Atlantic
Records is a mature guitar-laden disc. They sound similar to Creed and
Collective Soul in that Sinomatic relies on guitar work to carry their
songs. In fact, music has seen many guitar-driven radio icons; 38 Special
rocked the '70s, ZZ Top was the guitar king of the '80s, the '90s had
Collective Soul and now Sinomatic is aiming to be the guitar radio band
of the new millennium.
With the help of producer Eric Valentine (Smashmouth,
Third Eye Blind), Sinomatic has a harder-than-pop-rock album that is
filled with three minute tracks perfect for radio, catchy lyrics, songs
about love and love lost, '80s-esque guitar solos and crunchy guitars.
"Bloom" is the first song off of the self-titled
debut and also the first radio release. It has a beat that gets your
foot tapping and sets the tone for songs to follow with an emphasis
on guitars and clean vocals.
"Tell A Lie" is the best song on "Sinomatic"
because of its guitar and quick pace. If Sinomatic doesn’t get
radio play from "Bloom," they don’t need to worry because
this song should get them considerable radio play.
While the disc is good, it begins to get boring
near the end because there isn’t too much difference between songs
except for the tempo. "You’re Mine" sounds too much like
U2’s "Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me" and "Leave
Me Tomorrow" seems way too drawn out, maybe because it is the only
song on "Sinomatic" that is longer than 4:15 minutes.
Sinomatic is a good first album for this young
band and fans of guitar rock should check it out.
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