36 Crazyfists "A Snow Capped Romance" CD
[Roadrunner]
Here's the thing: I liked this band's last record, and I like this one too. It's as simple as that. Fuck it, I don't care. I've read a lot of reviews of this record that make fun of the singing and piss and moan and complain that the guy uses his weird natural vibrato effect too much, or that only the first few songs are good, etc. But the fact of that matter is that none of that shit is true. Yes, the singing is pretty unique and the guy does do a lot of strange natural vibrato, but the thing is, he doesn't do it all the time, and when he does he has perfect control over it, so it's really quite impressive. And beyond that, a lot of the vocals are screamed anyway, so fuck it. The actual music is definitely walking a fine line between oft-melodic/oft-frantic metalcore, emo, and some nu-metally sort of aspects, but I honestly think a lot of the negative connotations come from the fact that Roadrunner has a lot of lame radio rock/metal bands in their ranks rather than anything that the music here literally exemplifies. A good song is a good song and these cats write good fucking songs. This stuff isn't poppy, it's not groovy or overly simplified, etc. It is rhythmic, it can be catchy/memorable, and it is something that I could imagine being moderately successful on the radio in today's climate... but at the same time, there are a shitload of riffs and influences at work here that are scarcely different from a lot of the bands you'll hear coming from Trustkill or Ferret or other such labels these days. The recording doesn't bother me at all. It's loud and clear, the bass tone is awesome and peeks through just enough, the vocals rest slightly out front in a way that fits, the drums sound fucking awesome, and all of the guitar tones blend together very nicely. I don't really think there's anything I'd like to hear done differently in the grand scheme of things. I really like the artwork here for whatever reason. Something about the combination of colors, textures, crisp text, etc. I don't know, it just looks really nice to me. Lyrically everything is personal but I don't feel like anything is dumbed down or anything, they're really not bad: "That evil, a brutal sickness brings, At times you can't let go, It chases you from everything, To settled for almost anything, It's times like these when you should only choose just not to speak, And the clouds don't break when the sun is on empty." Hey, make no mistake, this isn't for everyone. But there are plenty of silly kids out there who will listen to diehard metalcore bands that sound exactly like this without flinching, but they'll call this "nu-metal", make fun of it, and act like it sucks... even though in truth it's probably better than their favorite band's last record. So I say fuck it, listen to whatever you want to listen to, give this a chance with an open mind, and see what you think. I think this is better than their debut, and I look forward to hearing more from them in the future. (7/10)
Running time - 38:20, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: The Heart and the Shape, Bloodwork, With Nothing Underneath, Installing the Catheter]
Roadrunner Records - http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com

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