From the Dying Sky "Towards Last Horizon" CD
[Burning Season]
Here's a re-release of an older EP from this Italian band with one bonus track from an animal rights benefit compilation (it's called "To Allow the Sunshine", though for some odd reason they appear to have left that song's title off of the tracklist). The style is a mix of modern metalcore and 90's styled European metalcore that's heavy on the metal. The crazy vocal screams are way over the top, but there are a few nice spoken passages as well. With a better recording this would be pretty damn good, granted I do get really sick of the redundant tremolo picking nonsense. But they have some great breakdowns, and the note-based riffing almost leans towards a death metal vibe on occasion, which I really like. The best parts are when they layer acoustic guitars with distorted guitars, though. There are a bunch of Denzel Washington samples in between the songs, and I think they all come from some movie called "Fallen", and that sort of bugs me... I don't know, using samples as intros to numerous songs is bad enough, but taking them all from one movie is kind of silly. I don't know, I think they're disruptive and serve no purpose here, I guess that's my point. And the production... yeah, the drums are really rigid and lack warmth, the bass is absent from the mix, the guitars have a weird tone to them, and the vocals are separated from the music. They could get away with things as they are if the drums were more natural I think, but the vocals get on my nerves a little bit. I think if the vocals were suppressed by the instruments it would be better. The bonus track sounds like complete shit, though. I mean total garbage. It's all fluttery and compressed like a low-grade mp3 or something. Terrible. They should've left that off the EP. The layout's not bad. I like the consistency of the colors and imagery of silhouetted figures pointing towards the sky amidst landscapes full of trees. The fonts are somewhat bland, but they actually work. Sadly lyrics are omitted in favor of liner notes about the band and the re-release, which makes little sense to me, but hey, it happens. The bottom line here is that I like a lot of the band's riffs, but the songs are sort of bland and forgettable, and the recording is certainly not doing their work justice. I could see them impressing me a lot with a little work, but who knows? (5/10)
Running time - 24:24, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: By the Grief of Disgrace]
Burning Season Records - http://www.burningseasonrecords.com

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