With all the publicity in the mainstream Cartel has gotten in the past few months, the hype for Cartel’s follow up to Chroma is the highest this Georgia based pop/punk band has ever gotten for an album.
Incase you were living under a rock the past few months, Cartel was recently on MTV’s reality show “Band in a Bubble” where they had 20 days to record 15 songs. For close to 90% of the broadcast, it showed Cartel goofing off and not taking their album too seriously. It looked like they wasted precious recording and writing time drinking JD, jumping off balconies onto mattresses and playing golf inside the bubble. Thus their lack of effort reflects in this album. The album was originally supposed to be released July 24, but they had to delay the album another month. Gee, I wonder why. To top it all off, since Cartel struck a deal with major corporations and MTV, they have been branded sell-outs.
The majority of the songs are boring, repetitive and bland. Their first single off the album, “Lose It” is the epitome of this. Throughout the 2:30 of the song the words “Lose it” are heard over 30 times. We get it Cartel! The name of the song is “Lose It”! Thank you!
The only 2 hopes for this album come in the songs “The Fortunate” and “No Subject (Come With Me)” where we get to hear some of the catchy tunes reminiscent to Chroma’s “Say Anything (Else)” and “Honestly”. “The Fortunate” has anthem-like qualities and runs closely with Bon Jovi’s famous hit “Show through the Heart”.
The song “Radioheadish” is Cartel’s attempt at losing their “pop/punk boy band” tag. Unfortunately, they’re not very good at writing anything else besides catchy, radio friendly tunes that will probably end up on the next Kidz Bop album. Cartel tries to go indie on this song.
This album isn’t a total dud. It has some catchy tunes. It’s nowhere near Chroma. “Band in a Bubble”: Strike 1. Trying to write songs in genres well out of their reach: Strike 2. An album that doesn’t even come close to the hype MTV gave it: Strike 3. You’re out Cartel.