By Kenney Kost/ne news editor

The Ferreiras trio, Ménage, prefers style to substance. The problem is the style just isn’t that great.

Comparisons to Arcade Fire and The Smashing Pumpkins are major accolades, enough to have set the music scene abuzz in anticipation of Ménage’s self-titled debut album release Nov. 13. After one hears the album, the connection is hard to make. The forced attempt to emulate the sounds of both bands is ever-present.

Sure, the group uses acoustic guitars, as does Arcade Fire. Sure, it mixes in electronica, as does The Smashing Pumpkins. There the similarities end. The classical overtones of Arcade Fire’s eight-piece band are not there. The transitions from melodic verses into the power-chord heavy choruses are not nearly as smooth and powerful as the Pumpkins.

The two brothers and sister who make up the trio are said to have traveled the world and acquired musical influences from Canada to Portugal. They forgot to add these flavors to their [made-up genre] Indie-emo-pop sound.

The album’s first single “Tonight” sounds like 100 other 2007 three-minute radio tunes. The lyrics are typical teen-angst, break-up poetry. “Everything comes to an end tonight, I’m sorry I’m leaving, you’ll forget me in time.” The one dynamic the three have going for them here is they can take on the roles of the couple breaking up.

The second single “Bury Us Young” may be where the Arcade Fire confusion came from. The intro has almost the exact same chord progression and rhythm, complete with distorted guitars, as Arcade Fire’s “Month of May.” A complete rip-off, the song is about the band setting out to write this record. Hmm, “Month of May” is the same story, only told better.

It doesn’t end there. Another of their tracks, “Wake Up,” happens to be the exact title of Arcade Fire’s most successful single from its debut album.

To be fair, some nice things are at work here. A lot of the songs start out with promise. It’s the meat that kills them. Once they get into the power-chord heavy choruses with the vocalists shouting out harmonies, they lose their individuality.

One song stood out. “Get Out” starts with a marching drumline and is the most minimal of the songs. It is the only song that doesn’t sound like the band hates the world. “Let tomorrow take its time, and make dark things bright. We can make all the wrong things right.”

Albeit not that well-written, it does add a drop of inspiration to the emo-gloom of the rest of the album.