Countdown to Life "Tragedy is So Irresistible" CD
[State of Grace]
Damn, this might have been pretty good if the recording wasn't atrocious. The drums are rigid and powerless, the guitar tone is thin and totally weak, the bass doesn't add enough low-end force, the vocals are separated from the music and also fall on the thin side... Actually, the entire mix is pretty spaced out, there are a lot of gaps. It really grates on my nerves. I like some of the riffs here, and the songwriting isn't that bad. It's basically melodic hardcore with an unusual metal flare, so one minute it's melodic chord progressions with slick picking patterns, the next it's a laidback dual guitar harmony straight out of the Iron Maiden handbook, and then it's onto some fairly general old school hardcore chord progressions, but they always mess with their note choice a little bit to keep things slightly more interesting. The vocals are usually abrasive screams, with some hints of singing at times (see "Better Off Dead", one of the best songs herein). Some songs, such as "Past Tense", are a bit more diverse, bringing in some clean guitars and more pronounced singing vocals, making for a pretty memorable composition. I'd be into hearing more in that vein. The same goes for the somewhat emo-ish "High Water". The layout's alright I guess, it looks clean and consistent, but in some ways I'm not into it because it just doesn't fit the music. It's got that aged look to it, with lots of decorative text and woodcut styled images and whatnot, sort of like a fairy tale book or something that you'd expect to see in the booklet for some goofy folk-ish metal band. Most of the lyrics are personal and don't really do much for me, and then there's the occasional "positive outlook" type of song, or the out of nowhere political intimations of a song like "Frontline", but again... nothing's grabbing me in that department. The bottom line with this disc is that it's essential for these guys to nail a better recording in the future. I think the guitar tone is the biggest problem by far, but despite the fact that nothing sounds too terrible, the sum of the parts oddly comes off as incredibly annoying to the ears. Good songs, unacceptable sound. There are some really good tracks here, and the band seems solid, but I can't give this over a 5/10 because I personally won't be able to sit through this CD again due to the production. (5/10)
Running time - 36:23, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Better Off Dead, Past Tense, High Water]
State of Grace - http://www.stateofgracehc.com

This review has been displayed 1061 times.