Not counting the fairly tasteful experimental noise intro/outro pieces, this EP kicks out five tracks of raw modern metalcore from this Hungarian group. Sadly the recording is absolutely horrific, so I can honestly barely sit through the entire 20-minute affair. The songwriting seems fairly tasteful for the style, though. They don't go overboard with dual guitar harmonies, and in most (but not all) cases they handle tremolo picking a bit more tactfully than other bands. But the drums have a dull thud to them, the guitars are really muddy and lack clarity, the vocals are mixed way too loud, and the entire mix sort of feels suffocated. Nothing's really bright, it just sort of sounds muffled and has a weird sheen over it. The bass tone is just about right, but everything else needs a lot of reworking. The songwriting is really generic, in fact it sounds quite similar to most of the other bands that I've heard on this label, that is to say that it's fairly promising, but needs some work as far as fluidity and focusing on the most effective elements, but I can get into it... especially slightly slower and heavier tracks like "Blindness Towards the Light". It's a damn shame the production is so screwy. The title track is a brief instrumental using only clean guitars, and I really like it... it's got a bit more of an emotional tinge than the other tracks, and I think they should go somewhere with that angle. Visually this release has a lot of problems. The band logo is pretty terrible, the front cover is pretty cheesy and I'm not sure what they were going for with the obvious overlapping images of birds, and inside the booklet the text is incredibly hard to read, and there are just a bunch of faded band photos on every page. The lyrics are a mix of negative personal observation and a bit of a positive spin encouraging change. "You say you have values? You are just victims in this world of everlasting darkness." The recording is definitely the culprit here. With a suitable sound this EP wouldn't be the same.
[Burning Season]
Running time - 20:35, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Blindness Towards the Light, The Birds Fly Again...]
Burning Season Records - http://www.burningseasonrecords.com
