Killing the Dream "s/t" CD
[Rival]
10 tracks of heavy, melodic, and energetic hardcore - five new, and five from their 2003 demo. The vocals are way over the top shouts with a lot of gruff throatiness happening, but the music isn't super extreme or anything. It's heavy but never really sheds too much melody, it's fast but not exceedingly so, etc. Expect lots of pretty straightforward old school styled chord progressions spiced up with some interesting picking patterns, octave chords, or tempo changes. Tempo plays a huge role in "10 1/2", the slowest and probably most openly melodic track herein, interspersing faster paced octave chords with a good deal of heaviness that's not necessarily "aggressive" if that makes sense, it's more of an emotional impact on some level. Another of the more melodic tracks is "January 2nd", from the demo, which uses some singing vocals as well, but I'm not really into that, it clashes with the rest of the song and the rest of the disc as a whole. On the other hand, the chunky heaviness and sick dissonant melody lines towards the end of "The Escape" are fucking awesome. A couple of tracks are a bit more straightforward through and through, so it's a good mix. Some of the punkier melodic riffs throw me for a slight loop, but it's cool. The recording is good. Nice and loud, pretty evenly mixed, etc. It does need cleaning up, but I don't mind it. The new and old tracks sound incredibly consistent with one another, I'd just like to hear more definition to the bass and slightly less emphasis on vocals and drums. The drums on the demo are a little flimsy so the kick drums overpower some of the guitars, but nothing sounds too hindered. Once more the layout looks awesome, with some worn old family photos and shots of demolished/rundown buildings and stuff like that. Plus the disc has clear edges so the on-disc printing overlaps well with the traycard design. The lyrics run across the center spread and stick with personal issues that are pretty direct without being overly simplified: "I've searched for answers and all I've found so far is a liar and a thief in you. Yesterday you saved me from the world. Today you took it all away. How come it's our best years that always end the worst?" All in all this is very promising, but there are only a handful of tracks that stand out to me, and a few are a little dull or out of place. Good, but nothing's blowing me away yet. (6/10)
Running time - 20:56, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Picking Up the Pieces, 10 1/2, The Escape]
Rival Records - http://www.rivalrecords.net

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