This is a remastered reissue of the band's debut EP, though I'm not sure why. I mean, are they that popular? I thought they had broken up, but I guess they got back together with a few new members. Whatever. This is decent metalcore that thankfully strays from any melodic Swedish bullshit in favor of straight mosh and some 90's European metalcore type flare. Occasionally they'll bust out some intense melodic chord progressions or layer clean guitars against distorted rhythms, but they tend to gear the songs around lots of power chords and some dissonant riffing to boot (but not in a chaotic and zany way, it's pretty tactful). I'm not that into the way the vocals are basically constantly doubled, as the screaming is sort of irritating as it is, but with all of the layering it gives off an unnecessary "screamo" sort of element that distracts from the music, which I can actually appreciate for the most part. I sort of wish the songs were a little shorter... 5+ minutes tends to be unnecessary here, but it's more positive than negative as a whole. The title track is a largely clean instrumental that just screams "Emo!", but I actually really like it a lot... a definite keeper. I don't know when this thing originally came out, but the recording sounds pretty good compared to most bands coming out these days. The clean guitars are too dry and the overall tone could use some warming up, but aside from the fact that the layered vocals are slightly dominant, I can deal with it. The guitars have a good amount of clarity, the drums sound alright, I can faintly hear the bass peaking out of the background, and so on. The layout's alright, it's pretty simple, sort of made out to look like a worn old 45rpm single sleeve or something. It's fairly crisp and cleanly arranged at least. Lyrics? Generic, generic, generic. I've seen worse, but everything looks all too familiar: "Warming arms of compassion through blue skies of desperate lies, As concrete to fists tonight rains bloodshed, She dies..." Having only heard a few 7 Angels 7 Plagues songs here and there aside from this EP, I must say that I could see these guys doing something pretty damn cool. It all depends on whether or not they build off of what they've got going for them or take the easy road and get lazy with all of the other modern bands that are clogging up the "market" right now. This is pretty good, though. A couple of these tracks kick ass.
[Uprising]
Running time - 21:40, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Until the Day Breathes and the Shadows Flee, A Farewell to a Perfect Score]
Uprising Records - http://www.uprisingrecords.com
