This band hails from Switzerland and plays melodic metalcore that has some potential but isn't developed enough to really catch me on this one. Expect a blend of melodic lead lines and chunky chord progressions with some post-hardcore dissonance, fronted by screaming, shouting, and singing vocals. The problems are that the recording is a little lacking, the performances aren't tight enough, and while not so bad the songwriting just isn't that memorable on a consistent basis. I do like how the basslines play a good role in laying the foundation without just mirroring the guitars, and the guitars are usually doing totally different things while still working together, but the playing is a little sloppy and the recording adds to a lack of cohesion needed to pull everything together. The guitars aren't quite crisp enough in their distortion, the bass can get lost in the shuffle but really should be more prominent, the drums are slightly too taut to possess a solid punch, etc. The vocals are the one element that I think sounds fairly good in both position and texture, followed closely by the bass (which has a decent tone and is definitely the tightest played of the instruments from a timing/cleanliness standpoint). "Hiding Behind" has some killer melodic riffs using harmonics and excellent dual guitar interaction with panning and layering effects, and that would all sound awesome with a tighter recording and performance behind it. "Walking Insecure" is another strong offering, with a crazy tapping intro, but its more melodic chords and faster tempos add more energy to the piece. By contrast "Restricted" has some forceful midpaced riffing and metallic runs reminiscent of some of the stuff from New Age Records in the 90's, and I'm all for that. Many of the riffs fall into the realm of the contemporary face of the genre, with hints of melodic Swedish tremolo picking and dual guitar runs, while a few of the heavier yet more melodic chords remind me of Endpoint or such artists, and the more blatantly melodic side of the material can even hit on leanings of emo or pop-punk on rare occasion. As is often the case I would suggest more tempo changes, as the constant use of midpaced rhythms can get stale, letting many songs drag on past five minutes and lose their steam pretty early on. It works for a song like "Azure" to top six minutes and run much slower, as its dynamics are far more powerful, using dark clean guitars and spoken vocals for more variation against the pounding rhythms and openly metallic runs, even closing with a nice piano passage. "Lion's Cave" is more of a rocked out ballad kind of thing though, and to be totally honest it doesn't fit in with the other songs and is an absolutely horrendous track - the music is completely weak, the singing stinks... it's just a really huge blemish in the midst of the record. The fact that it's followed by another ballad, "The Farewell-Phrases", makes things worse, but thankfully this one has some really nice female singing for the lead vocals, and its darker atmosphere works significantly better for the laidback music. The disc comes in a great looking digipack with a shitload of gloss coating in place, and the booklet has lots of crisp, clean text with a few tasteful and somewhat artsy band photos. It all looks pretty nice, and the lyrics aren't bad either. They tend to deal with openly (but not bluntly) exploring a range of pressures within the world, some more personal than others: "Contentedness is what we all strive for. Amnesia is what we get. No more approval for unawareness. No more agreeing nods for everything we believe we want to possess or control. Our preference for consumption leads to misery and destruction..." Not bad overall. It certainly needs more work to really nail it, but... for a debut full-length they've got a good starting point to work from.
[Plastic Gun]
Running time - 50:34, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Azure, Walking Insecure, Restricted]
Plastic Gun Records - http://www.plasticgunrecords.com
