Caalma, Even if you change your mind

Caalma is the stage name of Mark Steven McCraw, a one-man show from our very own Pasadena, Texas. Even if you change your mind is his first full-length release, and he also has some acoustic stuff available on the Caalma Website. He’s currently recruiting band members while working on his next album and plans on releasing a poetry album shortly thereafter. Also, Caalma’s Myspace page is rife with ladies, so drop him a line if you’re in it for the chicks.

A pretty little piano ditty opens the album, and it’s a good intro…but a bit too reminiscent of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and frankly, it reveals more than intended. This type of clumsy homage pervades the rest of the album, so put your surprise-face away. If you went to your high school’s battle of the bands and saw the metalhead’s band play, then this album will ring a few bells.

There are two flavors of the remaining nine tracks: downstroke-ridden rock thrashes and poppy electroacoustic ballads. The former all sound pretty similar to each other, so if you still dig Judas Priest riffs, you can go nuts for about half an hour — punch-punch-punch, bang head, repeat. The non-metal tracks are all pretty similar, too, with upbeat strumming and happy lyrics about nothing in particular. Basically, college coffee shop white noise designed for landing chicks (see paragraph one).

The lack of variety is distracting, and one gets lost pretty easily listening to Even if you change your mind. Even though it was three years in the making, this album sounds a little rushed, and would have played much better as a shorter EP release. Less is more.