About 3 years late to the party, Ortega is hoping their full length album ‘Conversations’ will bring the hardcore punk genre back to the forefront of peoples mind.
“Drive” opens the album with a bang but other than that leaves much to be desired, luckily the songs get better. “Our Cinderella Story” is one of the first tracks that really makes you sit up and take notice. The track has pretty standard upbeat verses which melds well with the chorus that will have you singing along with Jason as he sings “Sing to me, our cinderella story….”.
“I’m A Class A Reason To Put Down Your Needle Part 1″ does little to nothing except intro the next track (obviously the point, but still) which is fantastic. Part 2 of the song does a good job of combining the melody with a second screaming part and although it may be a bit generic it fits well. Some of the music too can come off a little bland during times but more often the album is full of blood pumping, head bobbing rock.
The album ends with easily the 2 best tracks. “These Times Are Changing” was the song that initially kept me coming back over and over to the record. Closing out the ten songs is “Check In Check Out” which has an amazingly catchy opening riff. The pre-chorus jumps up from the mellow verse into a quick tempo and continues with a solid chorus. There are definitely hints pointing back to the band Finch in the song but seems to be nothing more than coincidence.
All in all this is a solid album with more hits than misses.
Track Listing
1. Drive
2. No Amount Of Make-Up (Can Cover Up The Break-Up)
3. Our Cinderella Story
4. Girls Got Game
5. Save Yourself
6. I’m A Class A Reason To Put Down Your Needle Part I
7. I’m A Class A Reason To Put Down Your Needle Part II
8. When She Moves, We Move
9. Times Are Changing
10. Check In Check Out
