As of late, EMI has been on a mission to introduce a new breed of musical artists to listeners. In hopes of getting people to make trial purchases of new artists' music (as opposed to relying on MySpace or Purevolume), EMI is offering six-song albums for only five dollars. Enter Philmont. Last year, Forefront released Philmont's Oh Snap EP, a five-song EP acting as our introduction to the band. As part of EMI's new mission, they're re-releasing the Oh Snap EP, with an extra song so as to fit in with the six-song deal. So ladies and gentlemen, once again, here is Philmont's Oh Snap.

First up, "I Can't Stand To Fall," a basic pop/punk song with a little synth thrown in. Right off the bat, a few other names come to mind, such as Relient K, Hello Kelly and even the Jonas Brothers. Needless to say, it's off to somewhat of a rough start, musically and lyrically. Though, on a positive note, the lyrics are at least focused on something good, ie relying on God to pick us back up when we fall. "The Difference" is a little better (also slightly more catchy), which leads to a decently-written ballad, entitled "Another Name." The Relient K feel comes back in the verses of "My Hippocratic Oath" (more closely resembling the more aggressive RK songs), and is one of the better songs on the EP. The original album closer, "Photosynthetic" follows suit with the same sound and feel as the previous song. The new track, "The Ascension" is a slow, acoustic song that actually may be the highlight of the whole project. So, a good addition to the EP, but the placement may be a little questionable. The end of "Photosynthetic" kinda has that end-of-the-album feel to it, so it seems a little awkward to place another song right after something like that. But then again, placing it somewhere in the middle may have disrupted the flow of the album in someone else's opinion. And, "The Ascension" does also have somewhat of that end-of-the-album feel, too. So maybe it's not all bad.

Now, to be quite honest, this re-release can very very easily come off as sort of a rip-off to those who already have this album. The majority of people who have it already won't want to spend even just five dollars to get just one more song. Unless those people have iTunes or another way to purchase single songs, they might be a little upset. Aside from that, though, the only real complaint is the maturity of the songs. Unless they're aiming to reach the younger generation, they may want to beef up the songwriting, as it could stand at least a little maturity. But fans of pop/punk acts like Hello Kelly or The Chemistry who don't already have the original version of Oh Snap will want to pick this up.

- Review date: 4/12/08, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com