Green Day for an influence is great, but a barely disguised Green Day tribute for a debut album is not inviting. Delhi based pop punk trio Lavender Carnage sound like a band that overdosed on Green Day covers and when it came to cracking those originals ”“ ”˜A Preacher’s Tale,’ ”˜In Love With You’ and ”˜Wasting Time’ ”“ they couldn’t tell one from the other. With the intro on ”˜Mr Man’ you fear they might just trail off into ”˜Time of your Life,’ but fortunately the inspiration strays into a grim serenade. Aside from bad production, the album takes a big hit on the lyrical front; for the most part it’s just unintelligent rigmarole and you’d rather keep from listening in too deep. Sample this:  “There’s no one there/There’s no one now/Who do I speak to/This feeling of loneliness is haunting me inside/What do I do to get myself out of this/Someone help me,” on ”˜Screaming for Life.’ The track ”˜Angels Light,’ with its racy pop-punk pulse and Srijan Sen’s vocals betraying any sense of affectation, makes for a refreshingly crisp dig on this album. ”˜Longest Road’ is another track where the boys keep from playing somebody else. But overall, Lavender Carnage fail to make a successful transition from a tribute band to an original one.
Key Tracks: ”˜Angels Light,’ ”˜Longest Road’
