This Swiss trio uses just guitar, drums, and vocals, but that's all they need to create a fiercely dissonant and rhythmic jaunt into heaviness that's definitely in keeping with their country's fine line of extreme music acts.? The recording is definitely a little too thin and raw to really do them complete justice, but it's suitable enough to give you an idea of what they have to offer, which is a punishing blend of sick drum fills and caustic guitar playing fronted by relentless screaming.? The first song alone ("Elvetic") runs seven minutes and plows through a slew of changes that stick to a midpaced tempo and wander from more concrete rhythms to truly acerbic discordance, but it never comes across as frantic or chaotic, there's definitely a controlled sense of consistency and focus here.? "B.M.t.v." is the only track that hits on some borderline chaotic insinuations with its minute-long running time and completely insane blasts and noisy guitar riffs, but then it's onto the eight-minute "Patriarche" (which is admittedly a little long for this particular outing).? This one's a little more diverse, but I'm not as into the pull-off runs or anything like that.? The quirky time signatures and odd rhythmic interplay between the guitars and drums are pretty interesting, though.? Sound-wise it does come across like a demo.? The biggest problem is that everything's kind of thin, so it lumps together and loses some clarity and punch.? The drums are the clearest element and sound pretty good for what the band's doing, because the drummer makes nice use of variation between basic patterns and unhinged fills, and that needs to be a clear element in the mix like this.? The vocals and the guitars sound okay, but both need more of a rounded approach that would offer a little more fluidity and force.? The vocals are closer to where they need to be than the guitars, as in the final track the guitars definitely seem somewhat dull and lacking sustain, etc.? The packaging is very nice, however.? The CD-R is attached to an oversized sleeve printed in black ink on metallic silver paper, all of which is inside a lightly textured sheet of semi transparent vellum.? Not too shabby!? No lyrics are included, just the band's bio and contact information alongside the tracklist, so I have no idea what the songs are dealing with.? I'll be very curious to hear what comes next from this band.? They're working on both a split 10" and a full-length for this year, and there's a definite amount of potential here.? I think "Elvedic" is by far the strongest of the three compositions on this demo (and handles its lengthy running time very nicely), but none of the songs are weak, and a stronger recording with time to mature as writers could yield some brutal results from these three in the near future.? We'll see what happens...
[self-released]
Running time - 15:59, Tracks: 3
[Notable tracks: Elvetic]
Cortez - http://www.cortez.ch
