In the Unlikely Event is my first Judy Blume book. I was a bit old for her YA fiction in the 60s, and too snobbish in the 70s and 80s to read her adult fiction. She has written a few books for adults, with the same insistence for reality that characterizes her YA work. She is most renowned (and controversial) for her YA fiction, which tackles subjects parents dread – sex, obesity, racism, divorce, and more. Even with its songwriting issues and clashing song styles, though, the Fall of Troy provides enough interesting music to make a worthwhile listen for fans of post-hardcore and melodic heavy metal.You know those conversations when a bunch of people (often English majors) confess what they are embarrassed not to have read? Remembrance of Things Past always makes the list (it’s #1 on mine), as do Ulysses (Zzzz) and The Canterbury Tales (which I never would have finished without the Cliffs’ Notes). Well, with apologies to the literary masters, this week I added Judy Blume to my list of authors I should have read.īlume has been a force in American fiction for the last four decades. “Single” is a strong three-minute hard-rock-radio song, and the melodic power ballad “Webs” works precisely because it doesn’t rely on technical guitar pyrotechnics to get its point across.

However, this isn’t to say it never happens. Despite coming up with some good and great guitar melodies plus the occasional catchy lyric, the band has a hard time arranging these elements to work as memorable songs. This leaves the songwriting, which unfortunately still seems to be one of the band’s weak spots. Drummer Andrew Forsman and new bassist Frank Ene round out the band with solid rhythm work that nicely supports Erak’s riffing. As a singer, Erak is solid, with a mid-range tenor that handles melodies well, but he still insists on doing hardcore-style screams a good chunk of the time, and it rarely serves the songs well. Thomas Erak is a nimble and creative guitarist, and he manages to coax an astonishing variety of sounds out of his guitar throughout the album. To the band’s credit, the songs work more often than not. It doesn’t even come close, leaving each song to stand or collapse on its own. In the Unlikely Event throws together a smorgasbord of heavy styles in the hopes it will gel somehow as a coherent album. Four albums into its career, the Fall of Troy still experiments with its sound.

In the unlikely event review