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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Frankly....disappointing, October 29, 2002
JJ72's eponymous debut was a solid effort, but suffered from an unhealthy degree of same-y-ness, boasting several amazing tracks but also several totally forgettable ones. On I To Sky we were promised a more stripped down, dark sound. And true, the strings are missing, but listening to I To Sky, this is clearly the same band recording as on JJ72. Where JJ72 was littered with references to Placebo and Everything Must Go-era Manics, I To Sky is full of nods to the Smashing Pumpkins - from the softest to the loudest songs, the influence is present.Yet, like Muse and Coldplay, JJ72 are a band that, regardless of what influences they take on board, will always sound very similar. This is partly due to Mark Greaney's voice - in turns playful and sweet, then melodramatic, raw, cracked and howling. On I To Sky it sounds even higher - and the suspicion on first single Formulae is that it may have been digitally altered to sound so in the verse. Nevertheless, it's very good, despite being the closest thing here to the first album - sticking to the traditional JJ72 format of lovely, somewhat twee verse and big, melodramatic chorus. Elsewhere we see more variation but little improvement. 7th Wave builds throughout the song to its climax but ultimately leaves little impression, and opener Nameless is a slight, stripped-down piano ballad that seems more an overture or prequel to I To Sky than the opening manifesto that October Swimmer was to JJ72. Similarly, Oiche Mhaith is a nice, beautiful closer, but not even a closing call of `love, love, love, love' can turn it into a match for JJ72's magnificent finale Bumble Bee. The darker, heavier edge promised is only really present on one track - Serpent Sky - which starts with a 100% Placebo riff, threatens to be entirely forgettable, but soon builds right up into a quasi-metallic opus that, unlike every song on JJ72, never moves back into quietness at any point. This is such a triumph that it ends up being the album's best track. But unfortunately, despite several likable efforts, there is nothing on I To Sky to match the ragged, elegaic, tortured beauty of October Swimmer, Oxygen, Snow or Algeria. Instead, where JJ72 was half-brilliant half-forgettable, I To Sky is entirely good but never great, with the possible exception of Formulae and Serpent Sky. Consequently, JJ72 will have to wait until their third album to perfect their formula (no pun intended). 3 stars.
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