Four Trees and a Consultant is a popular band consisting of Gaithersburg High School seniors Thomas Pope, Charlotte Chaze, Alec Trumble, Tristan McGuire, Andrew McGuire and junior Crystal Varkalis. Recently, they released their debut album, “Better Vibes.”

Opening up the album is the hard-rocking “Polyfemur,” an intense jam filled with an aggressive, distorted guitar sound over heavy vocals. Here, they sound a lot like all the hardcore bands they are influenced by, like Converge.

But they don’t just mimic the sound – they create their own version with unique melodies and intense lyrics.

As the album goes on, they take the listener back to some of their old songs with updated versions.

Both “Punk Rock in a Car” and “Wayy Too CRUNK” have been recorded carefully. The drums are more synchronized than they were on the demos. You can tell they made sure everything was kept in time properly.

The ‘professional studio’ quality of the recordings never gets in the way of capturing the band’s raw live sound.

The band channeled Rick Rubin by doing this, using his technique of leaving it the same without many special effects that can get in the way of the song’s message.

The band covers a few songs by giving them a unique twist. The band’s passion for cartoon theme songs is profoundly shown on their takes of the theme songs to the “Power Puff Girls” and “Lilo and Stitch.”

They also take on the Fountains of Wayne song “Stacy’s Mom,” but instead call it “Stacy’s Dad.” “It’s just what we felt like doing. It’s not about ‘Stacy’s Mom.’ It’s about ‘Stacy’s Dad.’ It also makes it less awkward when a girl sings it,” drummer and vocalist Trumble says.

“Better Vibes” is a very promising debut. The songs are articulate and well produced. No criticism to give here other than it not being longer. It is practically perfect. If it were longer I would be able to enjoy it a little more, though.

This is an amazing debut. If they keep on doing their thing and finding their way, they will find a wider range of fans and success.