Greyskull "s/t" CD
[self-released]
Despite some really silly song titles like "Vegan Death Squad" and a few ultra generic tremolo picking riffs that are rather unfortunate within the context of the demo as a whole, this is some creative and diverse metalcore with scathing socio-political content and straight up screaming vocals. The aforementioned "Vegan Death Squad" opens the demo with some killer melodic chord progressions that are among the strongest herein, and is actually the most forceful piece if you ignore its weak tremolo runs towards the latter chunk; "When You Use the Word 'Gay' as a Pejorative You Sound Like a Big Fucking Idiot" is shorter and has some straightforward melodic hardcore chord progressions as well as some slightly more effective speedy picking patterns; "The End Result of Four Years of Temp. Labor" opens more like a metal song and has some dissonance to its chords before falling back on shifts between midpaced chunkiness and faster/noisier chords; "Smuttire" is a mere 51 seconds and has some explosive energy that has a hardcore/punk sound that's kind of like a more metallic Talk is Poison or something (very cool); and the also cheesily titled "Rainbow Glitter Unicorn vs. Rambo Nuclear Uniform" is kind of a tossup with its melodic Swedish influences that are pretty tasteful, but still a little stale in regards to an otherwise well written song. Sound-wise it's a little choppy but gets the job done. The drums are a little thin and clicky and I'm not catching enough of a low-end presence regardless, but I can live with it since the mix is pretty decent. The guitars and vocals dominate, but the vocals actually sound pretty good, and while in need of tightening up the guitars are rather effective in the end. A smoother and crisper sound would definitely benefit the songwriting though, and the performances could stand for a little more work as well. The CD-R is spraypainted black and comes in a xeroxed lyric booklet with a few photos and stolen artwork (Bosch and whatnot), with a screenprinted panel of cover art. The lyrics are super politically correct and deal with veganism, the cycle of work, living life to the fullest, and other such topics. I've definitely gotten really burnt out on the PC lyrics thing over the years, but these guys seem really sincere and include some descriptions that go into their reasons for the messages they're conveying. And some of the more personal lines are actually great: "To die in their arms and retreat forever or run until the blood boils to lands where there shall be time no longer? For all whose hearts have been crushed into submission, To all who bled but refused to remain living." Not bad. Hell, this is a free demo, so you can download it or email the band for a copy (they won't even charge you postage), and that's pretty damn cool. I like this. It needs work, but for a quick demo it's not bad at all. I'd like to hear more to get a better idea of what they can do. (7/10)
Running time - 13:59, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Vegan Death Squad, Smuttire]
Greyskull - http://www.hxcmp3.com/bands/8044/

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