The Good Fight "Breathing Room" CD
[Goodfellow]
Damnit! I was so psyched when I popped this in 'cause I thought it was a full-length, but all it is is two new tracks and then the four from their 2003 demo! I've been had! Come on! It's been about a year since the demo and all we get is four-and-a-half minutes of new material!? Hogwash! But anyway, I'm all over this band because Carl Skildum (Threadbare, Krakatoa, etc.) handles the melodic and subtly intricate guitar mastery and Dave Walker (Harvest, Krakatoa, etc.) takes the vocals, and the music is heavy yet very melodic hardcore with metal/metalcore tinges that's not at all generic. Of the new songs, "Driven" is far heavier than most of their other material, including a vicious breakdown that has more of a NYHC sort of thing to it (of course accented by some melodic chords layered into the background). "Breathing Room" is faster and leans towards slightly more technical and involved old school styled hardcore with some gang backups and everything. The demo tracks are similar, but perhaps a bit more demonstrative of what the band does as far as spicing things up with lots of additional guitar lines and whatnot, notable in killer cuts like "What Went Wrong". The choppy melodic rhythms and quick chords in "Stopped Dead" are a killer example of some of Skildum's slick picking patterns as well (definitely Krakatoa-esque). The recording is right in line with what they had on the demo, though a bit lacking in punch. The demo needed work as well, but the new tracks aren't as bright or full, they're damn close, but just a smidge thinner in some small way. The mix is pretty even though, and nothing sounds bad, make no mistake. It just needs something more. I can live with it because I love the energy of the songwriting. The layout's cool, sticking with mostly black, white, and red with a few full color live shots, etc. The lyrics are pretty straightforward and basically deal with taking control of your life and things of that nature. "Losing touch it doesn't have to remain, We can conquer all that we hope to achieve, To decide whether we stand or if we fall." So, the bottom line is that this band kicks ass, and they need to do a full-length. I know they're busy with other things, musical and non-musical, but come on... for the love of all things non-sucking, we need more than a few minutes of new jams to go with here! If you missed the demo, and you probably did, get this shit. Rock. (7/10)
Running time - 15:08, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Driven, Stopped Dead, What Went Wrong]
Goodfellow Records - http://www.goodfellowrecords.com

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