The cover art and band logo may scream black metal, but this six-track EP is instead geared more towards the melodic Swedish death metal sound, bringing in the sneering vocal screams and a few more intense speeds of black metal, but generally opting for a moderately fast and melodic approach that's heavy on the dual guitar harmonies and things of that nature. It's hard to say what I really make of this, because even though it's unoriginal and nothing strikes me about it, the band's performances are far tighter than most who fall within this general scope - it's just the recording that is a bit rawer than one might anticipate. It's not totally rough, you can hear the bass and none of the tones are what I would classify as awful... but it's missing something. The cymbals are a little hissy and overpowering, the general mix has a little bit of a weird distance to it, etc. I mean, the guitar tone is on the right track, the bass presence is great... they just need more warmth and cohesion to everything. I can definitely listen to it without becoming overly agitated, though. I say it all the time, but with a better recording this band could be great. They're clean players and they write good riffs. A little more originality wouldn't hurt, and I'm really not that big on the vocals, I think they ought to be a little lower, but fuck it. They close this fucker out with a slick cover of the Carcass masterpiece "Corporal Jigsore Quandary" as well (with a slightly louder and more grittily textured recording), and it's really well done - the vocals actually shine in this one. The CD-R is fairly professionally packaged in a jewel case with full color printing that looks like it was done on a really good color printer as opposed to a four-color process job, so I'm not bothered by that. The layout could be better, but it's simple and the text is legible, so I can live with it. The lyrics basically attack christianity from various angles, it's nothing new, but I've seen worse. Not bad. They need to push the envelope, but they're doing alright so far.
[Mauer]
Running time - 29:57, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Besieged by Night, Corporal Jigsore Quandary]
Mauer Records - [email protected]
