The Urgency’s self-titled debut album spends most of its 11 tracks living up to its name. The music is fast-paced, hard rock in the vein of the Foo Fighters. However, while there are many moments on this album that are somewhat impressive, it isn’t very memorable once it ends.

The band, made up of singer Tyler Gurwicz, guitarists Ian Molla and Ryan Siegel, bassist Kevin Coffrin, and drummer Guerin Blask, start off their album with a bang in the first single, “Fingertips”. Working off the soft to loud dynamic that was trademarked by The Pixies and made famous by Nirvana, the track’s chorus blasts through the speakers and hits you hard. Even though the riffs have a rough edge to them, the chorus is catchy and has the feel of a hit single to it. The lyrics are playfully seductive but are yelled out by Gurwicz in a fairly high pitch, turning the seduction into a challenge.

While “Fingertips” was a good start to The Urgency, the next three numbers sound very similar. By the time the four tracks have passed, the band’s music starts to sound generic. Gurwicz also spends most of these songs in his upper range, which works against him. Since he starts almost every hard-edged song near the top of his range, there’s nowhere left for him to climb when the chorus kicks it up a notch. His voice often sounds too high in the verses when compared to the rest of the music.

After speeding through the first third of the album, “Memories” feels like a breather for both the band and the audience. The chiming guitar in the verses offers a nice change from the hard rock chords that dominated the previous songs. The next number, “Battlefields,” reveals itself as the most interesting cut from the record. Starting off appropriately with a military drum roll, the song slowly builds, eventually exploding into a passionate bridge and final chorus before closing with the same drum roll from the beginning. Gurwicz’s vocal performance here is among the best on the album.

The next highlight of the album comes along on its final two tracks. “Revolution” shows what The Urgency is capable of when everything clicks for them. The guitar work of Molla and Siegel isn’t as in your face as on the majority of the other tracks. Gurwicz also moves around his vocal range, making the climb to his upper range in the chorus more noticeable and easier to appreciate. He also shows more of his varied vocals with the delicate singing on “Lullaby,” the aptly titled closer. The song isn’t boring though. Instead, the name works because the track feels like walking home through a quiet park after spending the night at a raging party.

While this album does have a few interesting ideas and some cool moments, the overall effort is bogged down by a large number of repetitive tracks and some awkward vocal takes that don’t mesh with the music.  For a hard rock group, the most appealing numbers are the slower ones that move away from the heavy chords and big choruses. The Urgency has a lot of potential but only a few songs show what this band can really do.

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