Los Dryheavers "Hangups, Heartaches, and Hangovers" CD
[Lorelei]
This kind of stuff isn't normally my thing, but I sort of like this aside from some problems with the recording that irritate me. It's basically catchy and energetic punk rock with some straight rock 'n' roll elements, "whoa ohhh" backing vocals, lots of melody, raspy singing vocals, etc. They're from the west coast, and you can definitely tell. There are absolutely little bits and pieces of this that sound like early Rancid, whereas "Ojo Por Ojo" is straight up old school hardcore - totally out of nowhere!? The songs tend to be really short, most less than two minutes, which is cool, but I still get bored by a good chunk of the songs. The faster and more pissed off tracks like "Back With a Vengeance" are a lot better than some of the slightly more midpaced or melodic tracks. I really enjoy those rare old school hardcore bursts that pop up, too. Though "Working Class Tragedy" blends acoustic and electric guitars with lots of pop punk styled palm-muting riffs and such, which does also stick out (in a good way). As far as what bothers me about the recording, it's just too thin. The drums sound good but the snare leans out front and the other percussion slides farther back, the bass is plunky and defined (nice for the wandering bass runs) but not dense enough, the guitar is a tad dry, and the vocals (also dry) are too out front due to the raspy midrange and feel separated from the music, especially when there are backup shouts and stuff. It sounds okay, but with a thicker recording and a really cohesive mix it would make a definite difference. The layout's okay. I like the simplicity of the front cover, but the rest of it's not as strong, though still not awful. There are plenty of band photos, all of the lyrics, etc. Lyrically I'm not into this material at all, the content's personal, which is fine, but the approach is really... well, I guess sort of silly? It's not humorous, but there are a lot of forced rhymes and other tactics that just sort of dumb things down too much. "Tables, ladders, and chairs, oh my, Gonna hurt you so bad it'll make you cry, Fist full of thumbtacks and rake to the eyes, Got a spinebuster that'll make you cry..." No thanks. There are some good songs here, but the CD as a whole doesn't win me over. I don't know, I think a better sound would've bumped me more towards the "this is pretty good" column, but... I'm remaining a little indifferent for now. (5/10)
Running time - 29:57, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: Working Class Tragedy, Ojo Por Ojo, Back With a Vengeance]
Lorelei Records - http://www.loreleirecords.com

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