Unpersons "III" CD
[At a Loss]
Ehhh... there are some slick riffs here and there, but for the most part this disc isn't my thing for a combination of reasons. Their music is made up of whacked out vocal screams, a shitload of dissonance, noisy feedback and chaotic guitar textures, fucked up time signatures and arrangements, and changes all over the place resulting in very few concrete rhythms. The drummer seems to be the only one holding things down consistently and steadily, with the bass sticking fairly close, but the guitars and vocals are all over the place. So... I like the drumming a lot, and the rhythm section as a whole is tight as fuck, but the songwriting leaves a lot to be desired. "...Of Silence" is painfully annoying, complete with overdramatic vocals and a certain "screamo" vibe that irritates me to no end. But then a track like "The Actor" slows it down and gets more structured, also bringing in layers of acoustic guitars, which sounds fucking awesome - immeasurably more melodic and powerful than anything else on the disc. It's a shame to hear them waste their time with all of the hectic nonsense when songs like this prove how capable they are. The recording is also a bit unbalanced - not terrible, but not what it should be. The drums are fine but lack low-end, the bass is there but doesn't do its job by providing density - thus leaving gaps, the guitars are too loud and high on the treble, etc. The maniacal screaming falls right behind the guitars and sounds about right, but overall details definitely get lost because of the guitar tone/volume and the separation in the mix. The layout's alright, it's minimal but gets the job done well enough. There's a weird illustrative painting on the cover, and the lyrics are inside in white text over an almost all black background (there's a faintly visible design back there). The content is pretty wild and abstract, I don't know what they're going for, but it certainly creates an unusual tone: "Old time dolls, Like a match, Blacken eyes (painted carefully next to her), Who would have no funeral at all." What can I say? There's one amazing song on the disc, a handful of the other songs have killer riffs in 'em, but the bottom line is that the majority of this stuff is boring and sounds the same. It's somewhat of a mess, despite tight playing, it's just slapped together and the songs lack direction. I can't really get into it. If only everything was as strong as "The Actor"... (4/10)
Running time - 30:15, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: The Actor]
At a Loss Recordings - http://www.atalossrecordings.com

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