Beauty to Ashes "Reproduce the Common Practice" CD
[Pluto]
I don't know if this is supposed to be considered a full-length or what, but with 10 tracks that clock in at a combined total of barely over 20 minutes, two of which are instrumentals and one of which is a cover, it's almost more of an EP if you ask me. These guys play burly modern sounding metalcore with both melody and dissonance, plus sick screaming vocals (with some monotone singing on occasion). There's a little bit of the chaotic pseudo technical thing going on, and there's a little bit of that Swedish metal vibe, but these guys keep that stuff to a pretty minimal level so that even though they're not original, they don't come off as being another carbon copy of everything else that's out there right now. "Stereo Overdose" is a weird little electronic interlude that's honestly pretty lame and definitely unnecessary, while the title track is another interlude with some guitar loops and samples that's more interesting and appropriate. The two real winners here are "Protocol to Perfection" (more emphatic chord progressions, and catchier/more memorable writing) and "How to Put Out a Fire With Gasoline" (poppy, in a sense, most of the vocals are sung). I definitely like the direction of these two tracks much more than the other stuff - they immediately stand out... they're just better songs all around. They close with "We are 138", a Misfits cover, of course. Sadly they sort of massacre it... go figure. I'm not that big on the recording, even though it's not that bad. The vocals are definitely too loud for being as abrasive as they are, and I find that to be distracting. And the drums also have a little bit of a rigid plastic bucket thing happening (making the performance choppy). The mix is definitely clear, and the guitars sound okay... but I don't know, something's missing. The bass tone is really suffocating, in a good way, so I'd leave that alone, but I'd trim some of the excess midrange out of the guitars and beef up those drums for sure. The CD comes in a great looking digipack with a really consistent appearance that I enjoy visually. The images are all of men in suits from the neck to the knees, no heads or anything. And the rest of the textures are just sketchy brush strokes or something, making it hard to tell if the images are paintings, manipulated photographs, a mix of the two, etc. Most of the lyrics are rather bland and generic personal expressions ("Sunsets look true when I see them through your eyes..."), but then in "Vertigo" they head in a totally different direction, seemingly out of nowhere. "We have been made victim to a neon paradigm, Systematic prescription to burn in our own eyes, Wastelands to the millions, Cemetery made of gold, Innocence romanticized on channels we all know. Wage war, state the disclaimer. No more..." They should really stick with that style of social commentary rather than the same old boring metalcore slop. This isn't something I would run out and buy by any means, but these guys have way more potential than most of this stuff that crosses my path these days. If they were to expand on the singing vocals and work on a consistent blend of styles rather than having one song that sounds one way and another that sounds entirely different I think they'd be onto something. (5/10)
Running time - 21:16, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Protocol to Perfection, How to Put Out a Fire With Gasoline]
Pluto Records - http://www.plutorecords.com

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