Here's some dark and fairly hard-edged melodic metalcore from Canada with some emo/indie rock tendencies, and the songwriting is actually really fucking good. They've got some great guitar interaction going on with melodic lead lines over chugging rhythms, dual guitar harmonies, creative chord progressions and arrangements etc. And in addition to a lot of clean breaks in the music, the vocals vary from great screams to even better singing (with some nice harmonization at times). Overall the dynamic shifts are fairly fluid and powerful. I love the bass work as well. The bass is a very important instrument here, and it shows. I'd be lying if I said this didn't sort of sound like a band that would be at home on a label like Trustkill, but with the right budget these guys would be way fucking better than most of that fashionable metalcore crap. The writing here is just a lot more intriguing and emotional. It's not 100% original, but it's definitely leaning that way. "Submissive" is especially nice with its use of acoustic guitars and subtly experimental recording techniques. The production isn't all that bad, but it needs work. I'm not that big on the sound to be quite honest, just because I know that under different circumstances these songs would be so much more powerful. There's a lot of space in the mix, and it causes some of the tones to sound flimsy in some respects. The drums are natural and have some nice kickback to them, but they still sound strange. The bass tone is pretty good and there's a lot of definition, but the bass isn't dense enough to hold down the low-end. The guitars are loud, but the distortion sounds sort of ragged compared to the lush clean guitars, etc. The main problem is the mix though, because everything sounds separated rather than meshing together. I do like the vocals, everything just needs to come together and work as a whole. I really like the layout. Sadly no lyrics are included (in fact there's almost no text), but the visuals are consistent, there aren't many colors at all, and things just look bleak and rather interesting. There are tons of abstract textures blended in with photographs or illustrations of buildings, some standing, some in ruins, plus one tasteful band photo... not bad at all. When all is said and done, this is a very promising band, and I do hope to hear their future work. I'm tempted to give this one a slightly higher rating, but the recording really does hold back the intensity of the tracks a bit, and there's room for growth, so... I'll just hold high expectations.
[Tuned to You]
Running time - 41:01, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Asleep, No9, Submissive]
Humanbreed - http://www.humanbreed.com
