To See You Broken "A Thief, a Poet, an Enemy" CD
[Excursion]
Here's an all-female band from Washington state that drops some solid mid-90's sounding metallic hardcore. I'm sure they get sick of the "all-female" thing being mentioned in reviews and what have you, but I feel it's necessary to point out because it's very rare for females to be so actively involved with hardcore bands (especially of this nature). Sure, there are plenty of hardcore bands that might have a female guitarist or bassist, maybe a vocalist or a drummer, but it's very rare for an entire band's lineup to be female when it comes to metallic hardcore that sounds like it might have been at home in the 90's on New Age Records or something like that. It's a very cool thing to see a band like this active right now in my opinion. This disc includes four new tracks and four re-recorded tracks that originally appeared on the band's demo. Musically this material is heavily metal influenced, but definitely keeps what I feel to be the classic sense of metalcore at its foundation. Though I'd say they do so in a slightly more creative fashion, as it's relatively diverse, ranging from clean breaks and melodic chord progressions to note-based riffing that's vaguely reminiscent of a more melodic Unbroken meets Undertow, and then some. There are tons of changes, but the songs are all pretty short (averaging two to three minutes) and they keep things moving memorably and forcefully. I really like the fact that the vocals are just straight shouts, nothing that attempts to be overly aggressive or anything like that. And the scarce singing vocals that occasionally appear in the distance are very nice, bringing to mind Ashes to some degree. In "Amarilli" there are even some segments of operatic singing vocals (in Italian, no less), which really add a unique twist. The production isn't bad at all. The guitars are thick and have a nice, slightly rough bite to them, the bass tone is really smooth, the vocals are well textured, and the drums sound natural. My only complaint is that the bass needs to be allowed more room to breathe and the drums need to be mixed more evenly. A couple of the cymbals are a bit farther out front than anything else, and at times you kind of have to try not to focus on that. There are a few minor areas where the performances could stand to be a bit tighter, but all in all things sound pretty fuckin' slick. The layout is black, white, and red with some spattered textures and on the cover there's one subtle image of a woman's face. Inside are all of the lyrics printed in a tight and compact format, as well as some recording information and all that jazz. The songs are all personal, with a few dealing more specifically with the topics of rape, sexism, and the superficial "perfect image" created by the media, etc. "I won't judge you by mainstream rules. We have to force open blinded eyes. Stand against the deceitful standards. My worth is not basted on a mutable exterior. I'll never attain perfection developed by image industries. Fuck their standards." Good stuff. Very cool. They definitely have their own identifiable sound. I'm looking forward to hearing something new from this band for sure. (7/10)
Running time - 22:31, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: When Everyday is Yesterday, This Means Nothing, Faceless]
To See You Broken - http://www.toseeyoubroken.homestead.com

This review has been displayed 2409 times.