Gauge Means Nothing "The Absent Trail of an Echo and My Future Plagued by Surrender" CD
[I've Come for Your Children]
Ouch. I really had my hopes up for this one because I'm always interested in international music, and being from Japan I figured this might be interesting, but I can't take this shit. It's like weird metallic screamo stuff, but with some additional female singing and keyboards. Fucking keyboards are not used in 99% of this music for a reason, and this EP exemplifies that reason perfectly. The keyboards are terrible... and I do mean terrible. They serve no purpose whatsoever and they stick out like a sore, decaying thumb in need of a serious amputation. The screaming vocals are sloppy and obnoxious as well, which doesn't help. Also lethal is the horrendous recording, as the guitar tones are all totally thin and overly abrasive/weak, the bass gets lost, there's a sheen over some of the cymbals... it's just not a good sounding mix at all. The female singing is pretty smooth, but never in key with the music, so it can be painful to listen to. And the songs? You guessed it. Not that hot. They're way too long for this style (Four tracks in 24+ minutes?), the playing isn't tight enough, and despite some really nice riffs (usually using lightly distorted clean guitars) there's just nothing that I really like about this. "My Glasses Reflect Untrue View on My Eyes" gets all frantic and noisy, which makes things even worse. There's usually a subtle thread of melody going on, but they really don't pull it off. The CD comes in a black and white sleeve with clean text and some great little photos. Inside is a folded up insert that has the lyrics in both Japanese and English (also very clean). I like it, it's all simple but looks very nice. Most of the lyrics are personal, with "My Glasses Reflect Untrue View on My Eyes" taking more of a stance on consumerism and consumption. But musically? Damn. I really wanted this to be something cool as well. These people would need to take drastic measures to get this material up to speed. I'm talking toss the keyboards and female vocals immediately, practice a lot to get the performances way tighter and more controlled, get the recording under control, shorten the songs or write better transitions into place, etc. Or, get rid of the squawking crap, stop being noisy, clean up the recording, and write straight up catchy emo tunes with a heavy sort of edge and use the female singing. But whatever you do, take a sledgehammer or comparatively large, heavy object and obliterate that keyboard until nothing remains but the scattered remnants of my ears' mortal enemy. Next. (1/10)
Running time - 24:52, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: take me away from this pain, please]
I've Come for Your Children - http://www.childismine.cjb.net

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