Damn, I didn't know what to expect from this Finnish band but this is melodic hardcore that leans towards pop punk, with a great recording, catchy songs, raspy singing vocals, etc. In a way I could see this fitting in with some of the better Fat Wreck bands, but this is a little heavier/more rocked out, and the gruffness of the vocals is awesome, even though the guy can really sing. The songs are based around heavy yet melodic chord progressions with the occasional full blown rock 'n' roll riff or set of octave chords. "Playstation Generation", musically, sounds exactly like old Lagwagon or NOFX, with a lot of fast paced riffing and octave chords, fast changes, a humorous little break into a hokey snippet of "Stairway to Heaven", etc. "Drink Myself to Death" is the most straightforward and catchy, while "Let Me Bleed" is pretty rocked out, but there are no bad songs herein... they even pull off the male/female vocal interplay in the semi hokey "Erection?" As mentioned, the production kicks ass. The only thing I might do is mix the vocals back a smidge and give the bass more prominence, but all of the tones are killer and the mix is pretty damn good as well. The CD-Rom portion of the disc has a video for a song called "80's Kid", and it's pretty entertaining. It's mainly live footage of the wilder side of the band set to a studio recording of the song. The layout looks pretty good, but all of the text is in red over an orange-ish background, so it's hard as fuck to read the lyrics or anything. I assume from song titles like "Happy People Must Die" that most of the lyrics are sarcastic or sort of humorous, after all... the band is called Anal Thunder, right!? But don't let the band name turn you away from this, because this is a killer EP. Thoroughly enjoyable.
[Hell's Tone]
Running time - 15:50, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Drink Myself to Death, Let Me Bleed, Playstation Generation]
Anal Thunder - http://www.analthunder.com
