No... what? It can't be... another band with an artsy fartsy name that plays melodic and chaotic Swedish death metalcore mixed with some little emo tendencies and such? Who would've thought? In their defense these guys are more diverse than most of these bands out there, occasionally throwing in an unexpected sludge rock type of riff, making far more use of interesting basslines that stand on their own, etc. But at the same time, the Swedish shit is totally derivative, I've heard these dissonant chord phrasings a million times, the mix of off kilter chugga chugga stuff with chaotic riffing is overdone, and the way the vocals generally stick with midrange screams that occasionally switch over to low growls or singing is par for the course. Every now and then they'll drop an absolutely amazing riff that blows my mind, but the songs aren't cohesive and as a whole this is pretty mundane and less than exciting. The drummer is fucking awesome, though. He doesn't show off enough, which I rarely say, but when he starts cutting loose with wacky cymbal work and insane fills it's fucking nice. I don't like the recording, and that's one thing that's really holding them back. The singing vocals sound pretty good, but the screaming is too distant and has a weird feel. The bass tone is well defined and audible, but needs to be smoother and even more central in the mix to hold even ground with the guitars, as the bass performance is rather impressive. As for the guitars, they're okay, they're clear, it's just not the kind of tone I really like. I want a bit more attack. Thankfully the drums seem pretty natural, but they could stand for more density. I don't know... I've heard much, much worse, but the potential these cats have is hindered a bit by the sound. The layout's sort of weird. Everything is done in black and white with red tones, keeping it simple. The front cover has a row of guys in a cloud of smoke pointing hefty firearms with text from some sort of police report overlapping it, the booklet has some photos (Mugshots?) of mobsters or whatever, there's some pimped out gangster dude on the CD face, and the traycard has a picture of the band, I assume, all decked out in suits looking rather mob-like. All of the lyrics are crammed into the center spread with incredibly small type that miraculously manages to be legible. The content is pretty typical and deals with a variety of topics ranging from a lot of personal issues to the scene to some entry level socio-political commentary and such. "Now I have seen the depths of human failure and I don't think I can stand on my own. Is this life with nothing to live for? How can I pick up the pieces - of broken dreams torn apart at the seams..." If these guys would stick with the more emotional and melodic material and drop the chaotic crap and the derivative Swedish shit they could be awesome. The female singing and clean breaks in "Drowning an Angel" (one of the rare standouts here) are a great touch, for instance. But as it stands this is just another in a long, long line of mediocre releases from a genre that needs a huge kick in the ass... and this band could be much closer to doing the kicking than they are now.
[Selah]
Running time - 30:08, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: They Call Me Mr. Glass, Drowning an Angel]
Selah Records - http://www.selah-records.com
