This is really unexpected. Melodic punk rock from Sweden with some street punk influences. The vocals in the opening track are sung totally in Swedish, far more obviously than most Swedish singing punk bands that I've heard in my day. It's really not that bad, and aside from a few mixing issues the recording is fucking nice too. They really need to adjust the mix, though. The vocals are insanely loud, and that's really distracting, and I'd like to somehow hear the guitars given more volume thickness and force, and maybe the rhythm section could use a touch of that as well? But either way, the vocals need to fall back in with the instrumentation. The writing is pretty catchy and memorable, though. There's a lot of melody, and they vary the tempos and stuff. I like the music a lot better than the singing, which seems to be the weak link across the board, but... they're on the right track. Stronger singing with more pronounced harmonies and energy would match the music a lot better, especially in the "poppier" songs like the midpaced "Bloodreded Black Nights". "Staring Straight Ahead" is the most consistent track, another midpaced rocker with lots of forceful melodies and a simple, catchy framework. It's a stronger song, though. It's just better written, I really like it. The CD comes in a slim cardboard slipcase with the tracklist and other pertinent information on the back. It's a little skimpy, but for a three-song EP it does work out, and the layout is nice and clean, so I don't mind at all. Good stuff. Way more melodic than I had expected from the title of the EP, but with a bit more work I could see this band really hitting on something cool.
[Brickland]
Running time - 12:23, Tracks: 3
[Notable tracks: Staring Straight Ahead]
Gasman - http://listen.to/gasman/
