A Long Winter "Breathing Underwater" CD
[Tribunal]
On this brief EP is some pretty caustic melodic metalcore that's a little hard to fully gauge based on the strange mix/recording. It sort of has the sound of an embellished demo. The drums aren't bad but they are a little raw and puffy, the guitars lack clarity and punch, the clean guitars are too dry and plain, and the mix is dominated by drums and vocals, while the bass sounds fine but isn't always audible, and the guitars sort of become a mess in many respects. One thing that I immediately enjoy about this CD is that it's not another god damn melodic Swedish metalcore band at all. It's caustic, sometimes chaotic, sometimes straightforward metallic hardcore with an emo/indie sort of edge. There's a good sense of melody, nice clean parts, the basslines seem really interesting, and the vocals jump from over the top screams to spoken passages to excellent singing. "Portraits Hung in Empty Halls" is an awesome song, it's powerful, well written, somewhat catchy, but definitely energetic. It's weird too, because some of the music reminds me of old Brother's Keeper (circa "Ladder" - check out the riffing in the awesomely quirky "These Eyes Will Remember"), some of the singing and music reminds me of more recent Boy Sets Fire, etc. Not bad at all. The artwork looks great here. It's nice and simple, with a dirty sort of look using worn and ragged paper textures, intentionally blurred/worn text, etc. There's no booklet, just a one-panel insert with lyrics on the back, and the rest of the lyrics continuing underneath the CD. Lyrics? Generic. What can you do? I can't even count how many times I've heard variations of the line "It's so hard to breath with your hands around my throat." at this point. But poor lyrics aside, I like what I'm hearing, even if it isn't polished enough to do them justice. Keep an eye out for this band... I'd fucking love to hear something more from them with a fuller, smoother sound. Damn, this is one of the most promising metalcore bands I've heard in awhile. I really hope they get it together to fully realize their music on their next release. (6/10)
Running time - 13:43, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Portraits Hung in Empty Halls, These Eyes Will Remember]
Tribunal Records - http://www.tribunalrecords.com

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