2006, Equal Vision Records
YouInSeries, part of the growing Las Vegas music scene, make their debut with Outside We Are Fine, a strikingly powerful album that manages to somehow capture the band's energy with a surprising precision. The group, who previously performed as Brown Eyed Deception, was well known in the region for their live performances, which, while not outlandish, are notable for their intensity.
Outside We Are Fine is particularly well produced, mixed, and performed; the guitars are effectively distorted and powerful, the vocals are crisp, the drums are precise -- but that doesn't make an album worthy of much praise beyond the most rote claims. That's not to say that Outside We Are Fine isn't worthy of praise; on the contrary, the album quickly finds its niche.
But it's when YouInSeries ventures outside of their specialty that they really excel -- from slow, dreary guitar bits (found most prominently in the closing track, "Often Too Much Thomas Kincade" [sic]) to strong vocal harmonies (evidenced in the opening track, "The Watcher" and others), the album really takes a strong hold on listeners. YouInSeries, it seems, is a band with tremendous amounts of mostly unrealized potential, and while they have crafted a quality release, it's likely that something much greater could be in store for the band.