Another one that I slept on for a little too long is "We: The Guillotine", the debut full-length from San Francisco's Early Graves on Ironclad Recordings. I couldn't tell you why I set this disc aside as something that I might like to check out when I had a little more time, but I did, and again I'm wishing I hadn't waited quite so long, as this is easily one of the best full-on "metalcore" records I've encountered as of late. The material falls amidst that rare breed that efficiently blends the more grinding, chaotic, and discordant metal riffing and constant change-ups with surging, meaty rhythms while still maintaining tangible hardcore influences here and there, not to mention some actual lyrical substance ('cause let's face it, there are just a shitload of bands of this nature out there whose lyrics simply don't matter). I don't know, it's diverse without at all coming off as all over the place, so the songwriting maintains a strong sense of cohesion that easily places the band's work above much of their contemporaries. And I think this is the best damn thing I've ever heard from Steve Austin's production duties, too. In the past I've not been a big fan of a lot of his work in this realm, but for the most part this record sounds fuckin' great: Heavy as hell but with a good amount of distinction between the guitars and bass, crisp percussion, and a really fuckin' powerful vocal sound that accentuates the delivery very well. What can I say? I tend to be pretty picky about this whole niche, especially within the last year or so, but this is an incredibly solid effort that gets me curious to see where they'll go from here...
Early Graves "Safety Net Acrobats"
Early Graves "Borrowed Teeth Borrowed Claws"
Get It
Metal Blade Records (CD)
Relapse Records (CD)
RevHQ (CD)
Amazon.com (mp3)
Comments
Totally agree this is the best-sounding Steve Austin production job in ages. People, get on this!
11.6.2008 | By Invisible Oranges
Yup, an excellent album indeed.
The House Nigger song will spark some controversy though. At least until people find out what it’s about.
11.6.2008 | By David Snusgrop
This is kinda not really a “debut” album. This band used to be a techmetal band called Apiary, then lost some members, changed their sound, and changed their name… i guess you could call it a rebirth, but it’s sort of the same band… maybe.
Anyway, it’s FAR better than Apiary and a great record to pick up.
11.8.2008 | By Andrew C.
all of us were in apiary technically, however none of us played or recorded or wrote anything from the last record. we really dont want anyone to think its the same band whatsoever.
11.9.2008 | By chris