Music that falls into the post-punk sound walks a razors edge that can go one of two ways: either it comes off raw and innovative, despite following the base sound  laid down by bands of the past, or it can come off as uninspired and lacking any originality. Then there’s Three Second Kiss from Bologna, Italy. With a post-punk sound that tosses in some math rock tempo changes, Tastyville comes into a grey area that falls in between the good and the bad.

Three Second Kiss’s sixth release Tastyville hits some really high notes when it comes to musical integrity, especially from Sacha Tilotta and his almost mechanical drumming that impresses throughout this effort. Musically there’s little lacking — the album is super clean and well played. The problem lies with the fact that there are a total of nine tracks on Tastyville,  yet I couldn’t really be able to highlight any particular tracks as being exceptional. The nine tracks seem to run together in repetitive motion — perhaps a good thing for those looking for a complete album experience (minus the flipping of the vinyl for those who find this on LP), but to not find any real highlighted songs kind of left me feeling “eh.”

The other issue I have with Tastyville are the vocals of Massimo Mosca. One word to describe the vocals : lackluster. Simply uninspired and monotone in sound, a total 180 to the music behind the vocals. So while I can appreciate the musical prowess displayed here, the end product leaves much to be desired.

(Sick Room Records, PO Box 47830, Chicago, IL 60647)