After a nice acoustic intro this Austrian act drops into some melodic hardcore with a little dash of metal and punk in there. It's actually really good aside from a very problematic recording that tends to hold back the potential of the songs quite a bit. The mix is uneven and it comes off as somewhat muddy, which is the chief complaint that I have. The vocals, which are sort of high-pitched shouts sort of along the lines of older Brother's Keeper, are mixed too loud, and the guitars don't have enough volume or brightness to play the role they need to play. The rhythm section sounds fine to me, they just need to drop out some of the low-end and make sure the mix is even. The only other really annoying thing is that the singing vocals, which aren't used that often (thankfully, as they're a little flimsy) are split up and hard panned into each speaker, so they stick way the hell out like a sore thumb and don't blend with the music at all. It's a crying shame that the production is out of whack like this, because I really like the songs. They have a lot of energy, good tempos, a nice hold on how to use their melodies with their traditional hardcore influences, etc. To my surprise a couple of songs like "A Place That Burns Itself Down" have some metally pop punk styled riffs in them, reminiscent of older Fat Wreck material like early Lagwagon or Propagandhi, and I love that stuff. "How Long" is a cover of one of the members' old bands, H-Street, who I've never heard, but assuming few liberties are being taken it sounds very similar to everything else herein, but a tad faster and more rooted in old school hardcore. The packaging is clean and consistent, using mainly black, white, and red images/text. The lyrics are longer than usual, despite the content being fairly normal, dealing with friendships and persevering through personal trials, and in rare cases digging into larger topics of war, injustice, racism, etc. In the future this band could be fucking awesome. My honest opinion would be that they either need to get rid of the singing altogether (which would be best, really) or practice on that a hell of a lot to get the singing to be as natural and comfortable as the shouting, but the sound quality and such is really the most important facet that needs more attention.
[Genet]
Running time - 39:05, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Human Error, A Place That Burns Itself Down, How Long]
Genet Records - http://www.genetrecords.com
