Right Direction "Beyond the Beyond" CD
[Gangstyle]
The last thing I heard from this Dutch band was their "Bury the Hatchet" full-length, and I pretty much thought it sucked. I'm not an enormous fan of what's going on here, but this is a hell of a lot better than that record, and I must applaud the band on becoming even more diverse than they were, and somehow more effective at the same time. They pretty much combine hardcore, punk, oi, a little bit of a metal tinge, and then some. The vocals fluctuate as well, be it gruff shouting, midrange yells, singing, etc. The only downfall in this case is that it makes the disc feel about twice as long as it is, because they're going in so many different directions that things don't exactly follow a cohesive flow all the time. There are some real standout tracks, though. "To Whom it May Concern" is a bit faster and more involved in the rhythm department, "Rose Hill" has some solid old school hardcore chords going on with great singing vocals during the chorus and some slight melody that definitely adds a forceful dimension that some of the songs lack, and "Wiseguys" is a short but sweet hardcore song with no frills... and that's not even taking into account some of the other tracks that, while not exactly the best, have their moments thanks to the variety of styles covered. The production doesn't bother me at all. The guitars aren't that heavy but the tone works perfectly for their style, the drums sound good, the vocals are fine, there's a good deal of bass in there, etc. No blatant problems jump out at me. The layout is 50/50 though, and unfortunately it's the outer portion that looks awful, because I'm afraid that might turn people away from a solid release. The front cover has a goofy picture of a séance and uses tons of cheesy goth looking fonts. Totally inappropriate for what's going on here. But the rest of the booklet is huge, including tons of lyrics, tons of photos (black and white and color), and a much cleaner and more consistent presentation than anything else. They should have done something more along those lines for the cover as well. The lyrics are all over the place, some humorous, some serious, some covering personal topics, some that are more like "hardcore party songs". But it's all summed up best by one little segment: "I'm sick of all you assholes telling me I should pick my words more carefully, I should think of those I might offend, Well I ain't here to make new friends..." Not bad. It's not exactly my thing, but I guess I can see why some people go nuts over this band... I bet they're awesome live, because some of the photos in the booklet are wild, and I could see a few of these songs being way more interesting in a live setting. (6/10)
Running time - 37:27, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: To Whom it May Concern, Rose Hill, Wiseguys]
Gangstyle Records - http://www.gangstylerecords.com

This review has been displayed 1910 times.