Junta "s/t" CD
[self-released]
I'm not a fan of the 2:15 intro of grating noise and layered screams here. It transitions into the first real song very well, but the two minutes that it takes to get there is a waste... The actually songs here are lengthy attacks of metalcore with a ton of changes and a good dose of melody. It's really quite diverse, and though not incredibly fluid, they handle the mass quantities of riffs and shuffled tempos well. I think this is probably slightly more focused than their last CD, but they still go all over the place from rhythmic chord progressions with some dissonant textures, to dual guitar harmonies and Scandinavian influences, some blasting tremolo picked riffs, mildly technical metal runs or solos, lush clean/acoustic passages, and vocals that are strained screams with occasional singing. I'm not sure the songs need to run an average of five to seven minutes, they tend to keep it moving so that nothing stalls out, but I think more streamlined songs could help. For instance, the middle of "Faceless Enemy" is incredibly energetic and memorable, probably my favorite moment on the disc, but that power isn't maintained for the duration of the 7:18 piece. They're competent musicians, though. And I'm really glad that they keep the Swedish sounding moments to an absolute minimum in favor of more interesting directions. The recording is the main thing holding this back in my opinion. At times the performance does feel like it falters a bit, but I can't tell if that's actually the case or if it's a result of some of the choppier tones working against one another. The thing that I hate the most are the drums, which sound almost 100% like a drum machine and jump to front of the mix faster than you can say, "Ahhh, shit." Natural drums tones, or at least something close to that, should be mandatory here. The bass tone and the vocals sound killer though, I'd just like to hear more of the bass. The guitars are too dirty to work out with this level of arranging, however. They're pretty heavy, but there's a real bite to the distortion that really breaks down some of the note-based riffs and makes the playing sound flimsy. With a better recording I think this would be a significantly stronger record. I'm not that into the layout because aside from the front cover, which looks decent, everything feels jumbled and slapped together. Plus the text inside the sleeve is a bit pixilated, so it just has a crude sort of look to it that takes away from the appearance. I could go either way on the lyrics, parts I like, parts I don't have much of an opinion on: "Surrender all the sanity in sight for one chance to lead your own way, Replaced by anger and made to suffer, All good is seen as a gift from your god, Hell is sleeping/dreaming underground, In time we'll find we're not alone..." I'd like to see this band get signed, because I think that with a good studio and a good budget they could really do some damage and put to shame a lot of similar bands that are out there right now achieving an undeserved level of "success". I like the bulk of this, but the recording is really getting to me... that area needs a lot of tweaking. Hopefully they'll get the opportunity to blow some minds sometime soon. (6/10)
Running time - 41:21, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Faceless Enemy, This World's Deception]
Junta - ianjunta@hotmail.com

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