This is the second demo (I think?) from this one-man Croatian band, playing a grinding form of metal that tends to be slower and slightly more groovier than most of the drum machine grind stuff that's out there. This is an improvement over the last demo, but I still think it needs some work. I think my chief complaint is that a lot of the songs are way too long, and at nearly an hour this is just more material than necessary for a demo. Shorter and faster tracks like the hardcore/punk infused "Ellen Ripley" are far more energetic and forceful by comparison, and a good match for the gruff vocal growls, but to my dismay there aren't many of those tracks herein. A few songs like "Ten Years Later (Selfseeker Pt. 2)" use some weird, ethereal female singing voices in the distance, which is curious, but I really think a quick, blasting demo full of those raging hardcore/punk/grind songs would be best suited to represent this project. There are six bonus tracks included, all of which are covers, and they're actually pretty damn cool. So, I like that they're there, but at the same time... it's not always a positive sign when the best songs on a demo are cover songs, is it? The covers include "Jordan, Minnesota" by Big Black, "Song of the Minerals" by Shellac, "The Bitter End" by Placebo, "Clean My Wounds" by C.O.C., the Death classic "Pull the Plug", and a condensed (and painfully sloppy) rendition of "One" (Metallica, of course). The sound is pretty good for a one-man band. I think the guitar tone could be heavier, but it's clear, and I think the drum programming has been very well handled. The mix is consistent, and the playing tends to be tight as well... I can certainly live with it, and I think it only needs minor touching up to add more detail to the songs. The CD-R comes in a simple xeroxed package with a band photo, logo, tracklist, and lyrics to one song. The lyrics included are for "Nation of Slaves", a political track, but a lot of the other titles are more humorous and perhaps not so serious, such as "Identity (Don't Drink and PC)" or "Monsteress (Fu#%ed Up Love Song)". Admittedly, were this a self-released EP of only cover songs, consisting of just the six bonus tracks, I'd give it a higher rating. But as a whole, this demo is still not where it needs to be. I know this guy has talent, and he exhibits that, but he could do far better than this, and I'm really holding out for when he finally knocks me on my ass. An improvement, but still not quite there on the original material.
[self-released]
Running time - 54:45, Tracks: 18
[Notable tracks: Ellen Ripley, Just Death and Pain, Clean My Wounds, Pull the Plug]
Jesusatan - http://www.jesusatan.tk
