Gone Without Trace "s/t" CD
[Thorp]
After an unnecessary intro of chugging guitars underneath samples of a militaristic drumbeat, shouting soldiers, and intense gunfire, this Orange County act opens up into some blistering metalcore with a sludgy edge that would have far more impact with a stronger recording. The sound could be worse, but it's still off. The vocals tend to overpower some of the instrumentation, the drums have a rigid compression happening that sounds a little weird, and there's a lot of excess noise in the mix that keeps some of the more important textures and details under wraps. A clearer sound with warmer percussion could be vicious. Now, there are still problems with the songwriting, and this isn't really original, but I like some of what I'm hearing a lot. Driven by sick vocal screams with an eerie sort of spoken tone seeping in, the songs are made up of varying degrees of dissonant chords and tons of rhythmic chunkiness with a few hints at sludgier rock influences - often played with a grinding sort of attack. The problems are that the songs aren't terribly interesting or memorable, there are some cool parts, some really derivative metalcore elements, and some passages that are rather indifferent by comparison. "Her Scars Told the Story" awkwardly layers in some interesting clean guitars, which could be incredibly promising despite its odd placement in the mix here. The vibrant drum fills and overall atmosphere of this song are definitely on the right track, a definite bright spot. "World of Tragedy" is another one that more effectively uses clean guitars, not to mention a few more recognizably melodic chords that really add a different spin to their approach. I'm not into the layout on this one. The outer panels are really bland and boring, and the inner panels, while more consistent, are also a little uninteresting. Tolerable, but it's not really grabbing my attention visually. The lyrics are sort of abstract and deal with both personal topics and larger issues of greed and probably terrorism (nothing's too specific, but allusions seem to be made). I'm not a fan of the lyrics either just because the phrasing and everything is a little cheesy: "Bury me six feet below, With my heart and my conscience, You've watched me raped of this world, It's my life of sacrifice..." I think the key here is that this ends up being a boring record. There are a few tracks that are more diverse and interesting, but it's still a pretty one-sided affair that lacks the qualities it would need to remain memorable. They definitely don't sound like any other Orange County bands that I've heard, which is a nice change of pace, but they're still working towards something more worthy of notice. (5/10)
Running time - 32:18, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Her Scars Told the Story, Power and Greed, World of Tragedy]
Thorp Records - http://www.thorprecords.com

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