The Sheila Divine: Where Have My Countrymen Gone

Perhaps unfairly pigeonholed as an emo-rock band and lost in an ongoing rush of new albums, the Boston band The Sheila Divine failed to reach more than a tiny cult following with its 1999 debut New Parade. That's too bad: With the soaring, searching ambition of U2 or Sunny Day Real Estate (but without the latter's recent prog leanings), the group made one of that year's best rock records, with or without the benefit of an audience. The independently released Where Have My Countrymen Gone may not fare much better commercially, but it matches its predecessor's catchy, grandiose power. "Countrymen" opens the album on a winningly bombastic note, with frontman Aaron Perrino's swooping voice buoying the remainder of the disc's dramatic, ambitious tracks, particularly knockouts such as "Every Year" and the mid-tempo stunner "Spirits." The L.A. (by way of Kalamazoo) outfit Sleet lacks the focus or polish of The Sheila Divine, but the potential that pervades The Volume Drops indicates a comparably striking flair for dense, outsized rock. In a sense, the album suffers from the quality of its best song, "When She Fades Away," a hyper-catchy firecracker of an anthem which overshadows everything around it. It takes a while to pick up on the considerable merit of the disarming mid-tempo ballad "Gone To The Sea," as well as "Starstruck" and "Catch Your Death," each built around hooky, near-perfect moments. Still, massive potential pervades virtually every song, except for the comically sappy closing ballad "You'll Never Know," which is so corny that it almost seems satirical. Like Countrymen, The Volume Drops traffics in swollen power, but it's tempered with compelling moments of subtlety. With or without commercial support, both albums are worth seeking out.