Bafabegiya takes side A with three tracks of melodic hardcore/punk that has a driving sort of crust rhythm to it with a thick core and layered shouting/screaming vocals, but something about the delivery has an undercurrent of light melody and a few breaks that have an old school hardcore sort of edge, and that really adds to their sound. A few songs use brief spurts of clean guitars as well, adding another atmosphere and giving the basslines more prominence, which turns out nicely. My biggest problem here is the recording, which is far too muddy and quiet to do justice to these songs. You've gotta crank the volume to hear the music at a good level, and even still a lot of detail is getting lost because low-end really dominates everything, so it's distant and suffocated. Arabella follows with three more songs on side B. Their sound is also a little muddy, but does come off as clearer and more robust with midrange, so it sounds better. Stylistically they're quite different, though. The songs are spacious and the instruments interact with one another rather than doubling the riffs, and things get pretty frantic and dissonant, but never too chaotic. I could see them being compared to a harsher and more punk Fugazi at times, especially at the start of "A Drone in D", which brings in some male vocals to work with the female screams. The artwork is really cool. The record comes in a red and black silkscreened sleeve with a Bafabegiya sticker and a few different inserts for lyrics, etc. Lyrically Arabella takes more of a personal stance, whereas Bafabegiya covers the socio-political spectrum with attacks on misused technological advancements, media manipulation, etc. Not a bad split. I prefer Bafabegiya's tracks (which I really like), but Arabella is also interesting. The recording holds this back a bit, though. I'd love to hear something more from Bafabegiya with a clearer sound that lets the nuances of their writing show through.
[Spacement]
Running time - 11:00 (approximately), Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Advancement, A Drone in D]
Spacement Records - http://www.spacementreno.com
