Curtain Society - Inertia (CD)

All Music Guide

By covering the Chameleons' "Swamp Thing" at a New York show prior to the release of Inertia, Southbridge, MA's the Curtain Society made obvious what this debut LP suggests: here's a band with fine taste in early/mid '80s effects-laden, big-hearted rock, with emotional flourishes, pumping bass, majestic guitar, and brave drumming. Perhaps guitarist Roger Lavallee's vocals are more plaintive than such antecedents -- his gentle, boyish cooing is more in line with the Sarah label bands, For Against, and the Pale Saints -- but this kind of ambitious, non-pretentious, power-packed scope and billowing sound is damn welcome in '90s America; i.e., Inertia takes pride in going against the gratuitous grunge grain.

- Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, All Music Guide