Dear Tonight "These Are Wires" CD
[Slave Union]
Hmmm... I'm torn on this. It's basically frantic hardcore/punk with a dissonant sort of screamo edge to it as far as having a lot of dynamic shifts and fairly loose guitar playing, but even though some of the music is very promising I'm just not into a lot of the noisier material, and the sloppiness to the guitar work is very bothersome to me. Some of the more metallic riffing would be quite nice were it tighter, as would the presence of the chunkier chord progressions, but that stuff tends to take a back seat to lots of dual guitar riffs that constantly shift between chords and notes to varying degrees of acerbic bite and almost caustic discordance. If nothing else the rhythm section is tight, and that's cool... but it definitely emphasizes to me how much more forceful this material would be if the guitars followed suit in that regard. I tend to not be into this kind of manic screaming either, but even though it seems a little overdramatic to me, especially when it switches to more of a half-spoken delivery, it does tend to work. I think the songwriting is really inconsistent though, despite the fact that each track has its strengths. For example, "Rushing at Ends" opens with some very cool clean guitars, but sadly the pull-off riff that follows is stale and boring, and the subsequent rhythms come off as a little awkward. Later on, however, things kind of lock together and there's a lot of vocal layering with some backup screams and singing, and that's all very effective. A similar approach with alternating vocals and solid interlocking instrumentation appears midway through "Swearing's a Sin" and makes for my favorite moment on the entire EP. The song itself is not entirely excellent, but these passages certainly hold it at a level above the rest. "It Runs Through Here" brings back some excellent clean riffing that gives the bass a bit more space, and this more overtly melodic approach is far superior to most of the chaotic dissonance offered up elsewhere. "Dead Men Tell No Tales", then, has some of the most energetic tempos of the entire disc, and that stuff really does pop out as slightly more direct as well. The production's pretty effective. The bass is very thick and clean, which helps it to create a niche for itself despite the fact that it's not terribly dominant, the percussion sounds nice and natural, and the vocals are reigned in by a dry texture and strong mix. The guitars are definitely a little dirty, but it fits their overall aesthetic nicely, and were the playing as tight as I'd prefer there would be no quarrels with the sound at all. The layout is tastefully minimal with very clean text and simple line designs in metallic gold ink, with one band photo and a lot of clean white space to makes things stand out. The lyrics and song explanations are excellent, covering topics ranging from socio-political issues to introspective personal commentary on larger topics than your usual brokenhearted bullshit. The content itself is longer and more involved than usual, and while perhaps somewhat overdramatic in a sense (as with the vocal performance), is really sincere and definitely comes across as truly genuine to the band, as best summed up with the simple line, "Trust me: I'm not just screaming because the music is loud." I'll give these guys credit for being better than average with this style, I definitely think they're creative and have some strong ideas, but the guitar playing really needs to improve in order to pull off some of the moderate technicality that this writing has to offer. I think I'd be won over by this band if the performances were globally as forceful and direct as the drumming and bass playing are. (6/10)
Running time - 21:09, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Swearing's a Sin, Dead Men Tell No Tales]
Slave Union - http://www.slaveunion.com

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