Modern metalcore with an emphasis on the metal from New Hampshire. Discordant chaotic riffing, chugging start/stop rhythms, heavy breakdowns, grinding blasts, melodic Swedish death/thrash runs, technical flurries, vocals that jump from low growls to midrange shouts/screams... all that action. The focus here is not on tremolo picking, guitar harmonies, or other Swedish sounding metalcore bullshit, so that is a definite plus. Some of the faster riffing reminds me of early Cannibal Corpse, which is cool, but I actually think these guys are best at the moderately paced breakdowns and staggered chord progressions. It's alright, but like most of these bands it tends to be fairly generic and less than memorable due to problematic songwriting that lacks focus and crams in a ton of changes without fully developing many passages. A perfect example of this is the dissonant melodic passage towards the end of "Getting Sentimental on That Ass", which is fucking incredible, but sadly it plays out in less than 10 seconds and never rears its head again, whereas it really should have been the core of an entire song! They might be able to pull off the "million changes a minute" stuff if the songs were a little shorter, but with each track running four to five minutes on this EP you easily forget where you are by the time any given piece is over. The production is alright, but the drums are way too rigid to work within the context of the music (granted the drum performance is really good). The guitar tone is generally pretty good, it's heavy and clear, but I can't make out the bass at all (except for the rare moments where slap bass techniques are employed), and the dirty texture of the guitars can lend itself to be a bit distant. The vocals tend to have the strongest, most well wounded attack. I'd up the bass guitar, warm up most of the drumming, and smooth over the guitars just a tad. They're not too far off, but things get jumbled because of the mix of different styles of tones. The layout's nice and clean, using simple, consistent colors and textures with compact typefaces that are easy to read. It's nothing that jumps out at you, but it still looks really slick. The lyrics tend to deal with relationship troubles and whatnot, and they use variations on a lot of generic metaphors and phrases that are all too common these days: "Knife in hand, this could solve everything, Cold steel reflecting your pretty face, Prettier as a stab wound, This is almost better than kissing you, Kill all ambition, Sprawled across the floor, Soaked, Soaked in this stolen beauty..." I'll give them credit for being tight and coming up with some slick riffs, but the writing isn't doing it for me. "My Fist, Your Face" comes close to being fairly fluid and a bit more consistent than the other tracks, so it's definitely the true standout here...
[Blackmarket]
Running time - 21:36, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: My Fist, Your Face, The Best Sex I Ever Had Started With a 900-Number and Credit Card Verification]
Blackmarket Activities - http://www.blackmarketactivities.com
