Hand to Hand "A Perfect Way to Say Goodbye" CD
[Lifeforce]
The first couple of times I listened to this Floridian act's debut full-length I wasn't that into it. The recording felt a little off to me, the screaming vocals were a little irritating, and it kind of seemed like typical modern screamo. Bits and pieces of those initial reactions still remain, but the more I listened to it the more it grew on me. What first hooked me in were the Cynic-y little alternate picking riffs in opener "Preamble" (one of my favorites), which led me to realize that there are actually some cool metallic influences happening here that add a little more musicianship to the material, and the songwriting's a pretty strong blend of almost catchy melodic elements, loosely abrasive riffing, and heavier metal chunkiness. It is somewhat standard in its use of singing and vocal harmonies against acerbic screaming, as well as accenting the aggressive riffing with some clean passages and such, but they're better writers than most. I would indeed prefer it were they to abandon most of the screaming though, as the singing is fairly good and most of that screaming can be quite grating and somewhat overly in your face considering the general sense of musical fluidity. Like many of the more technically sound bands of this nature there are some solid shifts between playing styles with plenty of prominent bass runs and dual guitar layering where totally different riffs piece together (aided by some panning to accentuate the differences in guitar lines), and some of the choruses are actually pretty memorable, which is a definite plus in my book. "Reused Decision" is more consistently midpaced and lets the singing take the fore most of the time, which stands out overall, despite being somewhat more laidback as a whole - but hey, a catchy chorus is a catchy chorus. And hell, sometimes the more metallic side can feel out of place anyway, as it does in portions of "Predictable Gatherings" and "A Silver Medal" in the form of some uninteresting tremolo picking and tired hammer-on/pull-off runs (the latter of which is also oddly darker, but not in an emotional manner, so it's not clicking with me). "In a Name" is another more chilled out piece that uses plenty of clean guitars and singing, almost coming off as the "ballad" of the disc, similar to closer "Confiding in a Whisper": An instrumental with acoustic guitars and lushly reverberating piano in the distance (not too shabby). Production-wise it sounds pretty good, but it is a little muffled. I think the vocals need to fall back against the music ever so slightly, while some of the rhythm guitars and elements of the percussion could use a touch more brightness to add clarity and punchiness. Or maybe the guitars would benefit from a meatier distortion? I'm not totally sure. It sounds good overall, though. The mix is fairly balanced, but there's a little separation at times, so I just think it needs a little extra polishing to pull everything together and get slightly more rounded out. As far as the design, I don't really care for the inner pages as they're somewhat inconsistent, but the coloring and quality of the photographs on the front and back covers looks fuckin' great. Lyrically the material's all dealing with personal trials ranging from loss to more hopeful hints, and even though some of the lines are a little typical in dramatic approach, the overall vibe isn't that bad. I'm not blown away, but I'm into it for the most part, and I think they could impress me in the future as they continue to grow. (7/10)
Running time - 40:00 (approximately), Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Preamble, The Arson, Reused Decision]
Lifeforce Records - http://www.lifeforcerecords.com

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