I'll pass. Contemporary metalcore that's equal parts better than average and equal parts disorganized crap. I really need to come up with a formula for reviewing this stuff that'll save me some time, because so much of this shit sounds the same and there's absolutely no reason for labels to continue signing these god damn bands. These guys? Take a core of melodic Swedish death metal (Of course, what else?) and hand a little more of a thrash/traditional metal flare to the riffing, throw in some absolutely terrible tremolo picking runs that lean more towards good ol' death metal, a little of the chugga stuff with hints at chaotic changeups, and toss in a few midpaced rhythms that use more dissonance and some interesting picking patterns to spice things up. The vocals range from snarled growls to screams, so... do the math. "New Age Holocaust" has brief fits of flashy sweep picking junk in it that no doubt played a role in getting the band signed, but guess what? Practice in your bedroom for one intensive day and you can nail that shit if you really want to, and it's not adding anything to their songwriting at all. This is just a very typical EP of jumbled songwriting that's mediocre riff after mediocre riff where a few of the parts definitely rise above as being pretty cool, but the bulk of the material is boring as shit and offers nothing new or exciting. The recording's competent. Good, but not great. I'd easily stand for it if the songs were forceful, and I don't have any particular problem areas to cite. The bass could stand to be more central in the mix, and the guitars could use a little smoothing out around the edges, but it's a thick and clear mix so for the most part they're definitely on the right track. The layout looks pretty good and has a consistent appearance, but no lyrics are included so there's nothing to go on there. I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that the lyrics are as generic as the music, but who fuckin' knows? I honestly don't care in the least because I'm so sick of hearing bands of this style. Out of 20 minutes there are probably two or three incredibly awesome minutes, around seven or eight decent minutes, and 10 minutes of hideously dull garbage that sounds like everything else this dying horse of a genre puts on the table. Sorry, but I've gotta start being harder on these bands. I'm fed up with the lack of creativity that's being fostered out there.
[Doll House]
Running time - 19:51, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: no particular song jumps out at me]
Doll House Records - http://www.dollhouseinc.com
