Highway to Belle

Down Theory were born through the Internet in 2003, but due to band members coming and going this band did not get off to a great start, but they have finally released their debut album Invisible Empire and intent in making their mark on the world of rock music. Down Theory have shared a stage with or opened for bands like 30 Seconds to Mars and Papa Roach.

The singer of the band Nick Lee initially started off as an R&B singer, something you would never guess from vocals which would give Dave Grohl a run for his money, on Invisible Empire.The band found each other through ads on the website jaxbands.com – Lee tried out with them a few months later and they became known as Down Theory. Even though the band came together online, they all already knew each other through mutual acquaintances.

The original bassist left but a friend ‘Drok’ (Derrick) of the band was quickly picked up to replace the original bassist and from listening to the music – this seems to have been a good move for the band.
They have been playing as many shows as they can both local and afar to appeal to wider audiences to try and build their fan base and to gain recognition through sites such as Facebook. The Internet helped create the band, so it definitely will be a good starting point for increasing their fan base both within the States and internationally.

The band prides themselves on their positive attitudes and this is transparent through the album’s optimistic tone. I feel this optimistic tone most on the track “Someday” with the lyrics “Don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be another day and it’s going to be ok, someday”. This is just one example, but overall, the album is very uplifting.

The album opens with the acoustic track “Pushing Back Tomorrow” and Lee’s vocals seem almost perfect for this style of music and the guitar soothing against the sad lyrics of the song.
The track I chose for the EMURGPick is “Fascination Street” with heavy distortion on guitars and repetitive bass lines in the same style as bands like Breaking Benjamin. I have said above that Lee’s vocals are well suited to acoustic music, but his voice is versatile and can work well with heavier guitar-laden songs.

“Over It” is another fantastic track off the album with the music, in my opinion, making more of an impact than the vocals, but not in a way that overshadows the vocals and lyrics. The rhythmic guitar riffs, the repetitive bass and angry drums make this song.

Lyrically, the album is impactful and it is clear that time and effort went into the creation of the album. What is also clear is that the band has great chemistry on every track on the album.
Inspiration is drawn for various styles of music from hard rock to punk rock and this is expressed well in the album. It doesn’t feel too disjunctive and it compliments Lee’s singing style. This results in the songs not sounding too much alike each other and thus boring and, despite the diffuseness the tracks, still possess the band’s general style.