Maureen Vana, NBC5 Street Team


Last month marked the drop of November 5th, 1955's long awaited first release. "Bears of the Sea" is an instrumentally stimulating album with solid vocals and beautiful visual art making it a must buy, rather than a must download. The disk comes with a fold out page displaying artwork by Ken Stewart on one side and an intimate touch of handwritten lyrics on the other.

The album mirrors it's beautiful visual layout to the inspiring instrumental portions of the tracks. The precise layering and creative pacing of the songs encourages the listener to fall deep into the music's hypnotic spell. In it's harshness, the album produces a relaxing feel allowing for focus to be placed on the subtle notes and off kilter beats. The lyrics touch upon a theme of questioning faith and trust while promoting finding strength in oneself.

Vocally the group holds nothing exceptionally new with a screaming at times talking style. The richness of Jason M's voice and his awareness of his range allows for this to comfortably fall into place within the music. The vocals are at their best on tracks like "(S)march On" where Jason mixes it up by throwing more melody into his voice.

November 5th, 1955 is a band to put on your radar and look out for when they hit the road... hopefully soon! You can check them out at http://www.myspace.com/novemberfifth1955 and purchase "Bears of the Sea" on Ironclad Records at http://www.allinmerch.com/store/826561/page/1503451.

Track picks: "The Ambassador to Sarajevo", "Functionaries", "Precursor", "(S)march on"