Gatsby's American Dream

Enough time has passed that a band hailing from Seattle shouldn’t have to deal with some of the more obvious baggage from days gone by. Instead, some more useful comparisons can be made such as Taking Back Sunday or some other bands with emo-esque qualities. In the Land of Lost Monsters is their new EP, following on from a couple of full-lengths. They’ve managed to win enough fans that they spent this summer as part of the Warped Tour, but it has taken the studio skills of James Paul Wisner (who has previously worked with Dashboard Confessional) to add that final layer of polish they’ve lacked until now. There are mildly provocative lyrics and an apparent group agenda, which is at least more interesting than most of the other bands who sound like this. But at the moment, songs seem to end prematurely, sometimes just when they are getting interesting and until they live up to the apparent potential of songs like "The Dragon Of Pendor,” then it is hard to imagine them being able to produce anything longer than a seven-song EP.