McCarthy Blacklist/Engineer "Split" 7"
[Black Box]
McCarthy Blacklist (Germany) takes side A with two tracks of frantic, metallic hardcore/punk with a mix of shrieking screams and lower growls over caustic guitar work that does seem to retain a fairly solid sense of control. It's actually not so bad, but the recording is too muffled, so drums and vocals dominate and what appear to be some interestingly melodic basslines get lost in the shuffle along with the somewhat thin and distant guitars. "The Pattern of Nothing" opens with lush clean guitars that have a little more volume at first, but once the distortion starts to creep in the awesome drumming starts to sink back and lose some of its crisp clarity, so it's definitely the sound quality that needs to step it up here. The songwriting seems to be on point, and the way the intense midpaced surge of this tune breaks into some faster and more energetic hardcore chords is definitely something that I can hang with. The lyrics definitely carry a message without beating anything into the ground, too: "Walls integrated in the landscape of a sad existence embody the nightmare of the being and not being at the same time, Waiting for a life without appreciation that the life has already begun..." Not bad. Engineer then cranks out two tracks of vicious metalcore with crushing rhythmic precision and tons of dissonance, while burly vocal shouts take shape right in against the music. Like their material on the split with Achilles this is definitely the kind of thing that should appeal to fans of the more intense and artistic side of this approach, ala Deadguy and the like. Also strong is their recording, which, while somewhat raw, gives the dense basslines plenty of room and keeps things pretty balanced. The drums are ultra thick and natural, the vocals sound great, etc. I've heard a lot of great sounding shit from Watchmen Studios, so I'm starting to think that's a solid hotspot for recording. The material tends to deal with the tedium of life passing you by within the cycles of modern society: "Aching for service. Taking the easy way out. If you could bear to look you'd see yourself skimming the surface. Not alive... we're not alive." The 7" comes on white vinyl in a matte sleeve printed in black and faint green ink with a similar little insert providing lyrics and credits for each band. The illustrations are definitely strange and atypical, but the quality is top notch, so it all works out. Not a bad split. Engineer takes it home since their recording is damn good and allows them more power, but I'd like to hear more from McCarthy Blacklist to get a better idea of what they can kick out as well. (6/10)
Running time - 11:00 (approximately), Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: The Pattern of Nothing, Bottom Feeders]
Black Box Recordings - http://www.blackboxrec.com

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