Sweet hell, I've been waiting ages to check this Canadian band out and they delivery like no other. Three guitars, drums, and fucking riffs. That's it. And it shreds! It's nothing but technical riff mastery with everything from blistering late-80's thrash at its finest to rhythms (and a few leads) that remind me of Carcass circa "Necroticism..." or heavier death metal riffing that on its more moderately paced side tosses around shitloads of overzealous pinch harmonics or blasts into a Cryptopsy-esque flurry of complexity. There are also a lot of riffs that border on everything from straight metal to the more colorful and flashy brand of metalcore (Dillinger and the like), but the way they're played and the context in which they're delivered keeps them sounding fresh and different from the norm. Fuck, "Something's Awry in the Hetfield of Dreams" even has a breakdown with a melodic harmony over some chord progressions that sound similar to Bolt Thrower at times, and some thick passages that are so fucking intense they border on more melodic Crowbar-isms. These fuckers are all over the metal map, I'm not fucking kidding. I love it. I really dig some of the crawling dissonant riffs as well - there's a lot of cool shit going on here that's really creative. Not being a particular fan of pinch harmonics I do get a little irritated by the intentional overabundance of them herein, but they're handled well so fuck it. The last track is an ode to Dr. Wiley from fucking Mega Man, a brief two-minute affair beginning with a sample of music from the video game and then launching into a quick Iron Maiden-esque cover. Fucking stellar, really. For a self-released demo it sounds very good as well. Everything is thick and evenly mixed. The drums sound better than most bands that are on larger metal labels, and the guitars, while raw, are also nice and chunky with a good level of warmth. They're panned as well, with one guitar in the left channel, one in the right, and one dead center, so unlike most bands that have three guitarists these cats are taking full advantage of it at all times. The CD-R comes in a slim jewel case with a nice, simple onecard insert complete with numerous icons of sea lions and minimal text (recording information and whatnot). How could an EP called "Swayze" not fucking rule? Especially when it has song titles like "Something's Awry in the Hetfield of Dreams"? This is great shit. I'll be pissed as hell if these guys don't do a full-length. These guys know what they're doing. There are more riffs on this thing than on Dark Angel's "Time Does Not Heal", and for once this is a band that can totally pull it off. Fuck yeah.
[self-released]
Running time - 18:20, Tracks: 3
[Notable tracks: all three rule]
Electro Quarterstaff - [email protected]
