Not bad. Energetic hardcore/punk from New Jersey in short bursts averaging less than two minutes apiece and drawing influences from a wide range of hardcore/punk styles. The vocals are sort of snotty screams with a west coast kind of vibe going on, which matches the rough melodic side of the more punk rock inspired riffing herein, while some of the more straightforward chords border on old school hardcore. Overall the songs are pretty melodic but the raw sort of approach and recording keep things aggressive, and the vocals are definitely pretty pissed. The tempos vary but tend to be pretty fast, thus keeping the energy level pretty damn high (perfectly exemplified in the relentless "Eat it Up") and making the melodic aspects and breakdowns pop out even more. "Shut My Eyes" has a few little rock sounding riffs amongst its more typical hardcore runs, "Set the Trap" leans even more towards flat out rock at the start but ends up among the faster and more aggressive tracks, "It's a Game of Risk and We All Have the Dice" contrasts heavier chord progressions with noisy leads and blazing power violence speeds, "Stand on Line" opens with clean guitars and significantly slower melodies and ends up a little longer and more driving in pace than much of the material, etc. The sound isn't bad, but it needs a little something. The rugged edge is really helpful and should be maintained, but the guitars have a little too much of a bite, which can make them feel a bit noisier than necessary. The drums and vocals sound great, but the bass kind of gets swallowed a lot of times, so... crank the bass and clean up the guitars a little and you'll be totally set. The layout is a mix of collaged band photos and clean text with stylized illustrations of hearts and veins and torsos sort of in the style of medical diagrams. The artwork looks good but the photos and text can get jumbled by contrast. Lyrically the material is a big mix, from bitter personal turmoil and heartbreak to pissed off socio-political commentary and average hardships, etc. "Here it comes we are drowning in the shit we create around us but there always seems to be enough air to keep us going..." I like this. It needs a hint more of a push to really nail it, but I'm totally into the energy they've got going on, and most of the writing is damn solid, so minor tightening of the performances and the recording would put 'em over the edge.
[Dark City]
Running time - 20:00 (approximately), Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Spiderweb Fractures, Bob Ross, Eat it Up, Life Underwater]
Dark City Records - http://www.darkcityrecords.org
