This disc contains two sets of tracks from this promising melodic hardcore band out of Australia that plays a generally fast and intense brand of old school hardcore with tons of melodic accoutrements that border on an early- to mid-90's pop-punk kind of sound to me in terms of using blazing picking patterns, octave chords, and occasional quick stop rhythms. There are a couple of awkwardly chunky breakdowns or choppy lead lines that don't really gel with the band's overall approach here and there (the more aggressive and in your face "You Lose" being the one exception where the harder edge totally pays off), and they need a little more work in terms of songwriting variation and overall recording quality, but this isn't too shabby. Included are the six tracks from the "Make it Count" EP and four more from the "State of Affairs" five-way split CD, totaling a little under 25 minutes of material. "The Betrayal" is among the stronger tracks in terms of blasting through tons of quick little arpeggiated riffs and aptly chunky picking patterns with loads of octave chords overhead, but then again, that's basically what all of these songs offer! What makes the difference here is a bit more emphasis on overall intensity with a few additional tempo changes for added effect. They almost lose it midway through since the dual guitar interaction suffers from minor tuning issues, but that can't kill the surging force powering the track elsewhere. Similarly, "Sinking Ships" opens a little slower before plowing into another speedy run, but for the most part the changeups in this track provide more tempo variation and some slightly uncommon chord structures that stand apart from the other tunes, and I'd like to hear more of that. No dates are provided for the recording credits, but the same studios and engineers were used for both sets, and they sound pretty much identical, so I'm assuming they were all recorded at the same time. They're on the right track there but I'd definitely like to hear a thicker guitar tone with a little more overall crispness and fluidity given to the mix. The bass tone kicks ass and the drums seem to be just about right, as are the straight yelling vocals, so... more beef in the guitars is all I find myself craving. The layout uses tons of live band shots and all appears in a faintly tinted green-ish hue throughout, so it looks similar to your average hardcore record for the most part. As you can probably guess from textbook song titles like "Turn Your Back" and "Holding on, among others, the lyrics are straightforward and serve up nothing new when it comes to this particular genre, so... that's really neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things. I definitely like this stuff, but I'm not entirely sold on it simply because it literally sounds like almost the exact same thing for 10 songs straight. As stated above, there are a couple of key standouts, but there's not enough variety to hold my interest - even given the succinct total running time. I'd be curious to hear the band's future output just to follow their progress, though. They've got a lot of tools to work with.
[Bridge Nine]
Running time - 23:42, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: As One, The Betrayal, Sinking Ships, You Lose]
Bridge Nine Records - http://www.bridge9.com
