The Suicide File "Twilight" CD
[Indecision]
Here's some raging hardcore/punk from Boston that has a unique sound to it that mixes traditional hardcore/punk with some total rock influences, a little bit of melody, and some more modern traits as well. They blow through 11 songs in about 18 minutes, and most every track is about a minute-and-a-half long. The vocals are straight yells, but there's a lot more going on with the music across the board. Aside from the blend of the aforementioned styles there's also solid coverage of a range of tempos (never getting too fast or too slow), and I like the fact that the songs pack the variety into really brief compositions to keep things moving. I mean shit, just check out anthemic rockers like "Mission Hill Party"... or the slower, darker, more emotional, and fucking intense "Song for Tonight". Awesome. The production is pretty good. Somehow it doesn't feel bright enough to me, but I love the bass tone, the guitars are dirty but clear, the drums sound natural, and the vocals are mixed right in with the music. It's really warm, it just needs a little something more. I think that maybe the vocals are too dry and the overall mix just needs a bit more kick as far as the high-end tones go. It's not bad at all, though. The layout was handled by Hydra Head's Aaron Turned and of course looks quite nice. The colors and textures (as well as the loosely recognizable images) are all very consistent, as is the tight, small type. The metallic bronze inks add that extra dimension to the layered effect of the presentation, so it definitely looks great. I really like these lyrics. They're fairly blunt, but not in a cheap way. They make the point very effectively, and cover mostly personal topics with a little bit more insight involved at times, notably in tracks like "Ashcroft": "If what it boils down to is that 'you're either for us or against us', I guess I've got a tough, tough decision to make, 'Cause hollow patriotic actions and reenactment don't move me, And mostly this 21st century brand of propaganda and rhetoric co-produced by Disney and sanitized by CGI just makes me sick, And when I peer through the red the white and the blue, I can see people like you using tragedy to advance your own narrow moral crusade." Nice. The main thing I have to stress about this band is that you absolutely must see them play live! I picked this CD up at one of their shows after being thoroughly blown away and let me fucking tell you, and I almost never say this as a huge fan of studio work, but this band is a live band and they cannot be properly experienced through a studio recording. When I saw them they exploded into a fucking attack of total energy from the get go and never let up. Unfortunately that energy isn't represented nearly as well on this CD, but it's still a damn fine record. But trust me, if these cats hit your town, be there. (7/10)
Running time - 17:42, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Ashcroft, Laramie, Mission Hill Party, Song for Tonight]
Indecision Records - http://www.indecisionrecords.com

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