Something about the band name and imagery of this disc had me expecting full blown emo, but while bits and pieces of this do meet that tag, the bulk of it is more along the chunky and discordant lines. They've got a good sense of melody and they piece riffs together better than most bands, and I'd call them competent musicians as well, but this is still a fairly boring and derivative disc. It's 50/50, you know? I love the rhythm section because the drumming has a good feel, the basslines are prominent and add to the tracks, etc. And I like that they mix it up well between melodic chord progressions, metal runs, breakdowns, and some more rhythmic/dissonant material (with both singing and screaming, of course)... but, the songs are still bland. Most every track runs more than four or five minutes, and even though they arrange their parts well, there are still way too many riffs and changes, so three minutes into a five-minutes song you've already had enough and you lose sight of where the song has been or where it might be going. The melodic moments are way more powerful and memorable than anything else, but they don't focus on those aspects enough, which is a shame because the more "technical" moments really rub me the wrong way as far as being totally generic and lacking emotion. Sometimes they even try to hit on more progressive or math rock sounding passages ("Fingernails and Lampshades"), but their strengths are really explosive and catchy chord progressions like those in spurts of "Wake Up My Love" - though sadly they only stick with these moments of greatness for seconds at a time before plunging back into a variety of scattered riffs. The recording is pretty good, however. The drums need a little more punch in some areas, but sound fairly clear and natural, I love the bass tone and its presence in the mix is perfect, the vocals are decent, and the guitars are alright - panned well to add a lot of detail to the layering. I'd like to hear fewer screaming vocals, or at least maybe less distortion over the screams, and the guitars could use beefing up for some of the harder rhythms, but it sounds nice for the most part. The layout looks okay too, with cool photos, a consistent appearance, etc. I feel like I've seen these identical photographs (or something very close) on a few other CD's in the last few years, which is strange, but whatever. It does look pretty nice. The lyrics are personal with enough room for interpretation in most cases, but the general approach is really standard: "Wake up my love, she sleeps so peacefully... undisturbed, I still stutter and fumble forward, doing everything I can to leave you be..." Heard it all before, you know? Honestly there are fucking great moments on this thing, but I was literally tired of the CD by halfway through the second song, and no single track as a whole stands out in my mind, so I can't get into it.
[One Day Savior]
Running time - 48:12, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: none of them really hit me in the end]
One Day Savior Recordings - http://www.onedaysavior.com
