Damn, another awesome EP from Grave Mistake, this time from an amazing hardcore/punk act out of Syracuse that's really challenging the boundaries of the genre with an angular and dissonant approach that almost owes as much to the Amphetamine Reptile sound as it does to, say, Negative Approach or something. Expect lots of extremely forceful yelling vocals alongside a slew of disjointed yet coherent riffs that walk back and forth between rocked out chord progressions and pulsing basslines to noisy picking patterns and dissonant chord phrasings. The song structures aren't typical at all either, with very few repeats and no standard sing-along types of hardcore formatting whatsoever. I don't even know where to begin with this one, I mean... each song sounds just a little different from the last, but the EP as a whole is totally cohesive and powerful, and they somehow manage to toss in so many different influences while keeping the songs short and focused enough to be memorable. "Simple Suicide" is a little more dissonant and has some jarring metalcore surges from time to time (think quality shit like Deadguy or whatever, nothing too wacky or contemporary), "Chop Chop" kind of has a rocked out feel similar to The Suicide File with a little more character and Black Flag-ish fanfare, and "Ghettoblaster" somehow even manages to feel catchy at times!? The production kicks ass, too. Everything is totally balanced and crisp with just the right amount of slight dirtiness to keep a sense of natural warmth and texture on hand. And, yes, the design is also awesome, using lots of high contrast imagery and stenciled lettering outside with tons of jumbled text and layered icons on the inside, alongside live band shots, etc. The record is pressed on clear orange vinyl, the sleeve is printed with a matte finish... it looks great. End of story. Lyrics? "And it's a sad state of affairs when you got no feeling for what kept you happy, And it fucking hurts, We're all walking dead, Zombies, slaves to our own devices, Living for trivial highs, Failing in massive shortcomings, End it with unresponsive goodbyes..." Sign me up. I didn't know until after writing this review that the band features Ryan Canavan from the Hanging Like a Hex label, where the band will be dropping their full-length, so keep an eye out for that, because I really think these guys are gonna do something massive. I'm impressed.
[Grave Mistake]
Running time - 9:00 (approximately), Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: all five kick ass]
Grave Mistake Records - http://www.gravemistakerecords.com
