The Burning of Rome played four songs during lunch at the Mosaic as a promotion for their band on Thursday, Nov. 21; this was their second consecutive year performing at San Dieguito Academy. Their performance was definitely unique, a different attempt at fusing genre styles likes punk, indie and hard rock that will appeal to anyone with an open mind when it comes to music.

My initial thought was that their style is pretty distinguished for combining hard rock-esque vocals with acoustic instruments like the cymbals, guitars and even some fiddle. The main vocals reminded me of some generic pop punk bands, but the guitars and xylophone in their first song changed the context completely. The lead singer’s style of yelling was very central to the composition, but the more calm parts slightly mimicked those of artists like Edward Sharpe.

The addition of the piano at the end of the second song added variety to their distinct sound. I narrowed the main singer’s style down to singing like Blink-182 or Panic! at the Disco, but The Burning of Rome harmonized well with the acoustics.

The lead singer’s  deeper vocals in the third song reminded me starkly of the singer Bryan Ferry from Roxy Music, or since they aren’t as well known today, a bit reminiscent of the style of Julian Casablancas in his monotone tempo vocals.

The best element was the backing instrumentals to my ear, a different attempt to modern music, a reaction to the death of pop punk on mainstream charts by recycling its elements. One guitarist who played some mad fiddle looked like Cat Stevens at the height of his career, and the other was the doppelganger of the young Carlos Santana. The whole band really personified their music in their presentation; the members really had their own edge that contributed to their performance.

Another audience member and I finally agreed that this band is definitely an ‘indie Green Day.’ Their Misfits cover, the fourth and final song performed, was my favorite, and the backing acoustics were breaking new ground for their style of reinventing punk. And the tambourine really enhanced it. I would definitely recommend this band to anyone with an interest in anything contemporary and straying from the general rock scene.