Emotionalpunk.com
Media Review
Music Quality: 5.0
Production: 7.0
Originality: 5.0
Tracklisting
2. Waste Your Tears
3. Say Your Last Goodbye
4. Bury Me
5. Being Human
6. Let It Bleed Again
7. Fallen Angel
8. I Was So Wrong
9. This Road Before
10. White
11. Oxygen (Remastered)
12. Fallen Soldier (Remix)
13. I'm So Happy I Could Die (Demo)
Comprised of vocalist Jon Paul Johnson, guitarist Matt Hogan, bassist Adam Johnson and former Matchbook Romance drummer Aaron Stern, the members of God or Julie are trying to revive that catchy hybrid of sinister rock and emo that first made My Chemical Romance popular – before they hit the arena rock circuit made over as The Black Parade. I'll admit that I first avoided listening to “This Road Before” under the assumption that it would completely suck, though my hasty first judgment was pleasantly proved not entirely wrong. Thanks to producers Aaron Johnson (The Fray) and David Bendeth (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus), a good number of God or Julie's tracks consist of fluid and powerful harmonies that really got my toes tapping – at least until they swirl off into melodramatic Lost Prophet territory.
While “Nothing Further From The Truth,” “Waste Your Tears,” “Say Your Last Goodbye” and “Bury Me” have the requisite uncanny pop chops to reel you in hook, line and sinker, God or Julie slip up a little towards the end of their emo flight of fancy with quite a few downtempo tracks and ballads that might send bleeding hearted souls retching. While “White” is one big sappy mistake and the remix of “The Fallen Soldier” resonates like the kind of uninspired song that Lifehouse might dream up, at least the remastered version of “Oxygen” has an appealing hint of '90s grunge. “This Road Before” is nothing that we haven't heard before, but if you're looking for a band that'll rev up nostalgia from the summer of 2004, then God or Julie might just be capable of doing that.