Easily Lost In the Present

With soaring guitars and powerhouse vocals, All the Dead Pilots wrap a faith-rallying, self-questioning message in sheets of distortion and formulaic arrangements. With a vocal style somewhat reminiscent of Perry Farrell, lead vocalist Dave Ort has a strong, versatile voice, although he still seems to be working on finding a unique way to channel his gifts. Even as they explore a few facets of the various shades of driving indie guitar rock, from the whirling groove of "Holds Me" and the poppy alt-rock of "Into the Middle" (which bears more than a passing resemblance to Everclear), they certainly never arrive at anything remotely recognizable as their own sound. Further, as the songs do delve into the heady topics of faith and human frailty, they do so without much flare, instead rattling off rhetorical questions that seem to only direct the listener to predetermined conclusions. On the whole, given the highly indistinctive nature of the songwriting and the band's tendency to return to the emotional, guitar-driven climax one too many times, one would be advised to check back on its development a few albums down the road.