Dead Even "Of Constant Rotation" CD
[Superhero]
This is chunky and rather generic metalcore from Cleveland using lots of rhythmic chord progressions, dissonant notes, European styled metal runs, etc., with strained vocal screams fronting it all. Some of the (rare) faster chords have more of a traditional hardcore sound, while the tremolo picking stuff is kind of a flimsy death metal thing, so this is 50/50 for me. I tend to like the general sound of the vocals, but the songwriting is disjointed and above all the recording is sub-par for this stuff. It sounds far too thin and there are a lot of holes in the mix. The percussion sounds alright but is a little unbalanced (the cymbals are louder and thinner than the drums themselves) and the guitar tone is getting there, but the bass falls to the back and the guitars are too thin for music that relies very heavily on crunchy chord progressions like this. The vocals would be more effective with a thicker and warmer sound as well. Everything needs to pack more density and come across more fluidly and cohesively amongst itself. Writing-wise these guys need to stick with the bludgeoningly heavy stuff, because the tremolo picking riffs are intolerably bad (see portions of "Bury Every Hero" for an example of just how awful that stuff can get), but most of the midpaced mosh stuff is pretty damn good. No one song is good from start to finish, but they all have some solid riffs, so if they were to trim the fat and beef up the recording I would enjoy this. At the end of the disc is an unlisted cover of "You Could be Mine" by Guns n' Roses, which is a surprising choice given the nature of the band's original material. They morph it into their own style and kind of make it bland, not that it's a great song in its original form either (stick with "Appetite for Destruction"), but whatever. The layout consists of plenty of apocalyptic Bosch paintings and a band photo and keeps things pretty simple. Lyrically the tracks are all pretty bleak and vindictive, dealing with dishonesty, betrayal, war, etc. "When you wake in a pool of your own blood, with nothing around you, you realized your life means nothing, and only one bullet will save you..." Like I said, focus on the thicker rhythms and the hard-hitting breakdown stuff. It's all infinitely superior to the halfassed death metal riffs and all that stuff. It's really 50/50, as I mentioned earlier. (5/10)
Running time - 25:17, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: it's all hit or miss with me]
Superhero Records - http://www.superherorecords.com

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