Galaxy Down "The End Without the Beginning" CD
[self-released]
This band features former members of Elements DEC and Lifetime, among others, and plays nice emo/indie rock type of stuff that sort of reminds me of some of those older Kentucky bands with a little bit of a DC kick - in part due to the unique singing vocals, but also because of the unusual sense of melody to the writing. Maybe if Falling Forward and early Fugazi fused together... listening to this you might not hear either band at all, but I definitely hear a little of each style meshing with one another nicely. The riffs tend to be fairly atypical, and even when they play a more straightforward chord progression they throw in notes or patterns that switch it up a little, and the rhythm section works on its own most of the time to supplement the guitars and vocals rather than simply following alongside. I actually really like the basslines, the guitar parts are great too, but it's always more interesting when the bass parts are distinct. The recording's not bad for a self-released effort. The guitars have a nice ringing sort of sustain to them with a very light level of distortion (most of the guitars are practically clean), the bass sounds like a million bucks, the percussion is thick and natural, and the vocals are fine by me. At times the vocals are mixed ever so slightly loud, and I'd definitely love to hear more harmonizing (as in "Con Artist") because it adds to the catchiness, but all the problems are minimal. A tighter mix and a bit less muddiness in the underlying levels would do the trick. The disc comes in a nice, professional looking package with a full color onecard insert and whatnot. All of the artwork is done in strange colors that are mostly shades of brown, blue, and green with a satellite on the front, some band photos inside, etc. No lyrics are included, just some recording information and whatnot, but most of the vocals are pretty easy to make out and the content of the songs is personal, but not sappy or overly direct or anything in that vein. I really like this. It's not generic at all, and I hate to even tag it as emo/indie rock because it's really more than that. It's not poppy or cheesy, it's got more of a true personality and the emotion seems a lot more genuine and intriguing here. I definitely look forward to hearing more from this band down the road, so hopefully they'll get picked up on by more ears than mine. Good work. (7/10)
Running time - 15:18, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Con Artist, Cornered, and the other two as well]
Galaxy Down - http://www.galaxydown.com

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