The Great Clearing Off "In Flight From the Terror Behind" CD
[Ed Walters]
Here's a quick EP of frantic, melodic hardcore/punk with a pretty significant indie/screamo angle happening, but all of the influences are blended nicely so as to create a unified picture, rather than one where quick dynamic shifts and changes create a jarring experience. There are definitely a lot of quirky riffs and a good amount of discordance also plays a role, but the songwriting is pretty fluid and there's always a certain melodic undercurrent carrying things. At times the playing gets looser and sloppier than I'd prefer, but I do think the screaming vocals are actually a bit more effective than many such acts. I also enjoy the fact that the basslines are very prominent and work independently of the guitar parts. "Roses for Glass Line 3" opens with a strong melodic bassline that leads into a more rhythmic midpaced rhythm that's a bit more memorable than most of the work, but tempo shifts and fairly standard melodic hardcore chord progressions contrast that incredibly well. Being the longest track it definitely changes things up a lot more than the others, dropping into a clean passage that rebuilds into one of the darker and more metallic moments herein. "To My Friends" follows with a similar structure that starts slower and really lets the bass parts carry most of the melodic weight before shifting into more energetic guitar passages. The recording could use work, but it makes sense to be a little dirty for this style. I definitely do feel that tightening up the playing would be a good idea, and in a sense making some of the tones a little more robust would also help, but it's hard to tell if that's necessary. The drums and vocals sound fine as is, I think the bass could be a little brighter and the guitars slightly heavier, but it's pretty clear, and I wouldn't want them to lose much of that. The layout uses a strict color palette with shades of orange, brown, and yellow types of colors, mostly in text, but with nice comic book styled illustrations on the cover that bleakly resemble some of the lyrical ideas - which combine the personal and the political well: "Not for a second can we believe this. Never trade what you hold for their world. Some things you lose, some things you give away..." Also included on the CD-Rom portion of the disc are some photos and four live videos - three from different shows in Philadelphia, one from DC. The quality's pretty decent as well, both audio and video, nothing great, but certainly watchable. Not bad as a whole. I'm not totally into it, but they're on the right track with the energetic bursts and the overall songwriting. Could be better, could be worse. I definitely enjoy a few of these tracks a lot, though. (6/10)
Running time - 12:26, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Roses for Glass Line 3, To My Friends]
Ed Walters Records - http://www.edwaltersrecords.org

This review has been displayed 1540 times.