Clearing Autumn Skies "Pulses and Matter" CD
[State of Grace]
This is a re-release of this band's four-track EP that I reviewed last year, only this time it comes from State of Grace rather than the band. Everything I said still stands: Fairly promising metalcore that suffers mainly from a less than effective recording at this point. The guitar tone is really fucked up -there's a lot of midrange and high-end, and it sounds really hollow so there must be some reverb in there or something. Oddly enough the bass is hard to hear and doesn't really fill in many of the gaps. The drums sound pretty decent, but they're a bit flat compared to the guitars and vocals, simply because the vocals and guitars are so damn loud. Musically these guys sound sort of like a combination of Bloodlet and Candiria (sans the rapping, of course). There's a big focus on rhythm instrumentally and vocally, and there are several riffs that sound almost like they were lifted directly from Candiria, with only the dissonant, noisy Bloodlet types of textures thrown in. There are two vocalists, but they seem to sound pretty similar as most of the vocals are midrange screams (unless one of them just doesn't do a whole lot). I like the rhythmic parts, but when they break into an intense melodic chord progression they really start to show their true abilities (just check out the latter portion of "...Squares", complete with singing vocals). I also like the clean breaks a lot, some are the jangly indie rock style, some are spacey and lush, but they add some well needed dynamics to the tracks. I wish the bass parts were louder, because the drumming is pretty damn good - he really has a knack for tasteful simplicity with just the right amount of flare, and I think that a louder bass performance would really add to what they have going on. The layout has been slightly altered here, this time tinting the colors a little bit, as well as including the lyrics. The abstract imagery and simple color scheme looks really cool, and the content of the songs really isn't bad at all. "Open the doors close off this world so few could back through the eyes of rejection know the past yet caution future callous in spirit a constant perfection will shatter shallow ideals..." I'd love to hear these guys with a solid recording budget. I'm definitely going to keep an eye out. All I would suggest (production aside) would be to work on balancing out the rhythmic aspects with the emotional melodic side, expanding the use of singing/spoken vocal passages, and pressing for a little bit more originality. Good work, though. This is a nice start. (6/10)
Running time - 19:26, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: ...Squares, Pleasant Disposition]
State of Grace - http://www.stateofgracehc.com

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