This contemporary metalcore act hails from Hungary and is actually not too shabby. Yes, they do need significant work, and their overall style isn't totally my thing, but this is a nice little debut EP. Expect aggressive yelling vocals over a mixture of rhythmic power chord chunkiness, melodic Swedish harmonies, dissonant chords that lean towards a more frantic and chaotic side, etc. There are also some singing and spoken vocals as well, adding to the varied approach. The writing is definitely a little disjointed, and the performances and production need minor tweaking as well, but they're on the right track. The recording is pretty crisp but does need more of a low-end presence. I'd also suggest smoothing out the percussion and giving the guitars a fuller and more intense level of distortion. Performance-wise they're in a good position, my key points would be that the singing needs more energy and emphasis to be as effective as the screaming, and they should make sure the guitars are in proper tune with one another, along with tightening up the more technical metal runs. If they can improve such elements songs like "Few Words and a Thought" could end up quite good, as portions are borderline catchy despite having a number of stuttered rhythms and abrasive textures in addition. "Acts of Your Life" is a little more streamlined in writing structure, dropping some nice discordant chords and chugging breaks; while "Dead Wolves" offers some nice drumming and a lot of variation between styles (including a slick melodic chord progression that's held back by the monotony of the singing but still bears promise). "Anatomy of a Serial Killer" is the only song I don't really care for, as the riffs are kind of stale and just don't reach much of a peak at all, but the other songs all tend to hold their own despite some individual faults. The layout looks pretty decent and is printed on thick paper with a massively glossy finish coating lots of dirty text and grimy background textures. The lyrics are inside in a random sort of arrangement on a large four-panel square of artwork, which sort of fits the abstract nature of the content - which is hard to make sense of, but seems to be personal stuff rather than anything carrying a socio-political message. I'm definitely not blown away by this one, and like I said their particular style isn't necessarily my thing, but I can sense enough of a competence here to suggest that the band could really improve with time.
[Deadbutcher]
Running time - 20:58, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Acts of Your Life, Few Words and a Thought]
Deadbutcher Records - http://www.deadbutcher.sk
