Whoa, here's some very fucking promising melodic metalcore with a good dose of technicality and a lot of feeling from Arizona. This is way better than I had ever anticipated it would be. These dudes have three guitarists and three vocalists (two of the guitarists also handle some of the vocals) and unlike most such bands they actually make good use of the three guitarists, with a lot of layering where none of the guitars are playing the exact same thing. The vocals are just completely fucking over the top screams that are definitely reminiscent of the "screamo" style, but the songwriting is much more metal based, sounding not unlike Shai Hulud mixed in with a little bit more dissonance and chaos and then some of that modern melodic Swedish sort of stuff, rhythmic chunks, and some calmer/almost experimental areas. "Faceless" even has some upbeat chord progressions that hint at emo and some clean guitars that have a reggae-ish vibe for a short time, which sort of came as a surprise, but damn if they don't pull that off perfectly as well. The riffing is really fucking creative and interesting, enough so that their lengthy songs are not at all boring (most of the songs are over five minutes, and one is more than seven)... so these cats could do some serious damage if they keep at it. The only downfall is that the recording does need work, as it's holding them back right now. The mix is sort of messy and the vocals are a little out front at times, plus the bass is basically impossible to hear 95% of the time and the drums aren't warm enough. The guitars are pretty clear and sound good, but the biggest problem is that the productions sounds oddly compressed. It's sort of hissy on the high-end (especially the cymbals), and almost sounds like it was burned from mp3's or something? If so, that was a mistake! The CD-R comes in a slim jewel case with a simple xerox cover on thick brown paper. It gets the job and the print quality is nice and dark, so even though I would have liked to see lyrics or whatever, this isn't a bad looking effort for being a simple four-song demo. I'd like to give this a higher rating just because I really love the force of the writing, but the sound needs work, and the presentation could do the music more justice as well. I'll save the higher mark for what I hope will be an incredible full-length from these guys in the near future... Check this band out. I'm impressed.
[self-released]
Running time - 23:14, Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: Color Coded Cages, To Prosper Too Proper, and the other two as well...]
Kyds vs Columbus - http://www.thekydsvscolumbus.com
