The Saddest Landscape "Lift Your Burdens High for This is Where We Cross" CD
[Alone]
Hmmm... this is almost good emo/indie stuff with a good mix of jarring distortion and relatively straightforward melody and vocals that stray from frantic screaming to spoken passages or an overdramatic sort of approach that I can't really handle. As usual they blend clean parts (at times slightly out of tune) with distorted parts, but their playing isn't as generic as most of these bands, granted they do sort of use a lot of typical devices as far as mixing screaming vocals way back in the distance during clean parts, etc. It's really the vocals that hold this back for me. The music's not great or anything, but they do have some powerful chord progressions and buildups sometimes (see "He Died Among Dreams"), and I can stand the vocals oftentimes. It's just that whole winded sort of whining shit that I hate, I don't know how to properly describe it, it just sounds pathetic and forced, like he's fighting back tears or some shit. He should just scream his ass off and leave it at that. Parts of "Forty Four Sunsets" get a little heavier, while the bulk of the piece is among the more acerbic work herein. "The Sixth Golden Ticket", though, is the hardest hitting and most consistent song (ironic at nearly six minutes in length, double that of the others) - this is where this band needs to be heading, as it's a coherent blend of all facets of their sound in one harnessed composition. The recording's not bad. I don't mind it, in fact. It's got a decent mix where everything has its space, the tones are dry but natural, I like the rhythm section a lot (though the drummer needs to tighten up his timing/consistency), etc. The vocal clarity is a really nice touch on the screaming, though at the same time it's a curse because it accentuates the more obnoxious aspects of the whinier overdramatic stuff. The guitar tone could stand for a bit more density, but it balances well against the low-end of the bass. It's pretty good all around, and fits what they're doing. The last three songs are from the "Cover Your Heart" 7", but they sound basically identical so everything might be from the same session. The CD comes in a nice looking chipboard digipack with dark brown and blue printing. Inside a small booklet printed in brown on matte off-white paper is tucked into the flap, including the lyrics, a photo, etc. The lyrics are all totally personal and largely deal with relationships and stuff, at times getting fairly sappy, but still fairly well handled. Musically though this isn't really hitting me. It has its moments, but I rarely get into the jangly screamo stuff, and the crybaby vocal trappings here really do hold it back. It's amazing what a difference a few weepy, breathless falters can make. (5/10)
Running time - 26:37, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: He Died Among Dreams, The Sixth Golden Ticket]
Alone Records - http://www.alonerecords.com

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