Balboa "s/t" CD
[Forge Again]
Here's some discordant and abrasive hardcore that balances itself out with an unexpectedly smooth indie rock sort of side. I like the fact that even the noisier elements are always rooted in a good sense of rhythm and a whole lot melody though, as that can be a hard combination to pull off. Caustic vocal screams are the norm, with a few sort of half spoken/half sung passages, and then there are lots of clean breaks (both jangly chords and brighter arpeggios) with nice drum fills and cymbal work. As far as the songwriting goes things seem a little predetermined in that most every song starts out softer with clean guitars and eventually distortion comes in, plus there's not a whole lot of tempo variation, so things do sound the same for the most part. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but in a way it does feel like a lot of things songs are very close to one another in architecture (especially in some of more drawn out instrumental passages). But probably the main thing holding this EP back is the recording. The percussion definitely sounds a little off, not necessarily unnatural, but definitely rigid and sort of snappy. The drums are also mixed too loud, which obscures both the layering of the guitar parts and the vocals. The bass is fairly evident, and the clean guitars come forward enough to blend well with the drumming, but most of the vocals are pretty quiet, and a lot of the distorted guitar parts get shuffled around in the mix too much. The bass should be left as is, the drums need the most work, perhaps just a smoother and more toned down definition, and then everything else just needs minor polishing and a better foothold in the midst of the mix. The packaging is all done in black, gray, and white with a slight amount of red text. Most of the imagery consists of abstract facial photos and high contrast, and the lyrics all appear underneath the CD. The lyrics are fairly cryptic and definitely seem personal, but the message following the lyrics indicating that "these songs are not intended to tell you what to think but, rather, to think" is suggestive of a potentially larger message. I like a lot of this, but they need to push themselves as writers in addition to pushing the recording to a slightly higher level. The shorter and more frantic burst of "Our Bodies Are Braille" is a nice change of pace against the more melodic and dynamic tracks, but the overall release is fairly one-sided. (6/10)
Running time - 26:28, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Deus ex Machina, Color Guard]
Forge Again Records - http://www.forgeagainrecords.com

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