Remains of the Day "Hanging on Rebellion" CD
[Crimes Against Humanity]
Whew, very cool. Another scorcher from Remains of the Day, chock full of very much His Hero is Gone inspired hardcore/punk with tons of pummeling chord progressions, thick melodies, vocal tradeoffs between varying degrees of shouting/screaming, and of course the eerie uses of violin that really do add a unique flare to their sound. This time out the writing is more diverse, at times getting a bit more rocked out with its melody, flirting with some subtle technicality (think of Burst circa "In Coveting Ways"), and bringing in a great dark crust vibe. It's not 100% original, but they lean in that direction, so while clear comparisons can be made, the end result is something that belongs solely to Remains of the Day. "Only to Infinity" starts out with some clean guitars and bass creating a foreground melody over some fucking wicked violin playing that almost mimics feedback in a way, using lots of reverb and sustain, eventually kicking in with percussion and some really emphatic guitar lines. "Elusive Reflections" begins in a similar fashion but the bass plays a larger role and acoustic guitars are brought in, almost lending a folkish feel to the music with the violin. It's really interesting how they keep things really heavy but still manage to pull of a totally different atmosphere from time to time. I really like the production. The mix is slightly busy and a tad noisy on a minor level, so it can be hard to hear certain details (the violins stick to the back and such), but it's really dense and aggressive, so it works out just fine in the end. I wouldn't really change all that much. The layout is all done in black and white with a little red, and aside from a few photographs of rundown buildings it's all text. Each page of the booklet presents the lyrics to one of the songs, so it's pretty straightforward. The lyrics are all pretty dark and tend to mix the personal and political in a subtle manner, a few instances get a little more specific, but nothing's all that direct. "The forcification of mechanization and dehumanization of our time, To this day you haven't known they elect their decisions like prisons, To embark upon their fortunes, They wring their hands over the threshold of inscrutable surroundings..." The tracklist shows 12 songs (though one is a mistaken duplicate listing), one of which was from an old split 7", and one of which is an older unreleased track, but those two songs don't appear on this copy of the CD for whatever reason. Oh well. Definitely recommended. This band deserves more attention than they get, hopefully they'll continue to improve and turn more heads in the process. (7/10)
Running time - 38:16, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Dreaming Drowning, Only to Infinity, At the Threshold]
Crimes Against Humanity - http://www.cahrecords.com

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