The cover art had me expecting something far different, so I was shocked when I popped this Japanese band's demo in and was greeted by blazing melodic Swedish death metalcore. It's pretty typical, of course, based largely around tremolo picking riffs and some chunkier breakdowns or dual guitar runs, but they're a little different because they add in some more openly melodic influences and really weird singing vocals that do sort of lean towards that really heavy emo side. The basslines are also incredibly melodic, which is a really nice touch. I'm really not into the singing at all because it sounds totally strained and out of place, but the screaming has a good texture happening. I like the songwriting for the most part though, they're really tight players and the mix of unusual picking patterns and obscure dissonant chords (Not to mention solos!) in "Time is Gone" is fucking awesome - one of the most creative songs I've heard from this general style in years. I wish the entire demo was that good! The energetic tempo in "Vanishing Memorial" leans towards a power metal vibe, but again those singing vocals come in and mess up an otherwise killer piece. Recording-wise the drums definitely sound a little flat, there's not much resonance there at all, but they're at least mixed back behind the guitars. The bass is evident but could be more dominant, and everything else is a little rough too, but I think the guitar tone is cool because it's really honed in on crunchy detail, and it's quite clear. The vocals are mixed nicely as well. For a demo it sounds pretty good. The CD-R comes in a nice sleeve made up of high quality color printouts with photos of two Japanese schoolgirls fighting, holding weapons or guitars, biting at one another with fangs, etc. The imagery is somewhat typical and metalcore-ish, but the photos are very high quality at least. All of the lyrics are in Japanese, so I'm not sure what's going on there. Not bad. They really need to kill those singing vocals big time, other than that I like most of what I'm hearing, and if they continued in the direction of "Time is Gone" I'd be all over it.
[self-released]
Running time - 11:32, Tracks: 3
[Notable tracks: Time is Gone]
Neckhunt Restaurant - http://www.myproof.jp
