The Prize Fight - The Process CD Review

Jimmy Eat World, for all intents and purposes, pioneered a very easily defined emo sound. It isn’t that hard to see shades of their work in many of today’s more popular bands’ work, as well as being used to outright shape the sound of many up and coming emo acts. I’m sure just about every reviewer on Decoy’s staff can name at least 10 cds that have come across their review pile that fit the aforementioned JEW profile perfectly.

It’s not always an egregious error for a band to emulate one of the groups which have helped to mold the genre they’re a part of, but it sets the band up to either be extremely good copycats or utter failures. There isn’t exactly a whole hell of a lot of middle ground with this type of thing, which makes wearing your influences on your sleeve a very risky proposition.

The Prize Fight, as you have correctly guessed, follows the JEW playbook very closely, putting them on a precipice they might easily fall from. Against the odds, however, they stand on that edge quite confidently, while playing what sounds like some really good JEW b-sides.

Of course there is more to this band than just sounding a lot like JEW, but when you initially listen to this EP, that’s what you’ll notice. If you listen a little closer, however, you can pick up an almost imperceptible bar-rock feel. It’s hard to pick out, but it’s there, and it’s just enough to keep The Process from falling into “total rip-off” territory.

Given some time to grow, evolve, and define themselves, The Prize Fight could have a very bright road to travel down.