Desiderata starts out with some rather unique metalcore. "Sommer Endet, Herbst Beginnt" shifts from being quiet and melodic with spoken vocals to heavier and more rhythmic with unfettered screams. The clean breaks are awesome, and oddly enough there are also some fast power chord runs that sound like a mix between old school hardcore and black metal!? I shit you not... it's wild. "Fuck You Goodbye!" has a lot of changeups from fast, heavy hardcore riffs to choppy rhythms and a great dissonant edge. There are also some really nice post-hardcore subtleties involved to boot. In addition to possessing memorable songwriting skills, they've got a nice recording going as well. Everything is fairly clear and forceful with a good amount of low-end. I love the way the basslines stand out against the clean guitars. The lyrics are in German and English, and the only English song deals with personal issues such as people not being true to themselves and covering up what they truly want to do or say. Next we have Dead for a Minute, from France, dropping some heavy as fuck chaotic metalcore. I'm talking tons of choppy rhythms and fucked up dissonant riffs with some bursts of grinding speed and constant, scathing vocal screams. These guys are more controlled and way heavier than most bands of this nature. "Sang Impur" also uses some twisted melody and an eerie little outro - it's a lot more interesting than some of the other tracks, though their brief and explosive songwriting does pack a punch. The production isn't bad, it just needs some tweaking. There is just a ton of low-end, which does help the heaviness factor, but it also muddies up the center. They need to be more cohesive so there's not so much separation in between the massive bass tones and everything else. The guitars can be hard to discern clearly, but it's not so bad as a whole. Lyrics? They're all in French, so unfortunately I haven't a clue in that department. The layout is great, chock full of dismal abstract imagery with a lot of gray tones and textures. The insert looks the same as the sleeve, with consistent fonts and a clean arrangement of text. Very nice work. This is a good split, and both bands are worth a shot.
[Acide Folik/Shinya]
Running time - 13:00 (approximately), Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Fuck You Goodbye!, Sang Impur]
Shinya Records - [email protected]
