Okay, it is absolutely critical that this band save up a little more money next time so they can pay someone to do a real layout for them and clean up the rough spots of their recording, because this is incredibly fucking promising, but there are some significant problems that really hold them back. The worst problem is the vocal recording, because the sneering vocals are too loud and crisp, so you can literally make out every detail in the vocals - which is good, except for the fact that the guy's voice sort of dies out sometimes, and it sounds incredibly forced and uncomfortable as a result. Had they layered the vocals or filtered them a little to thicken them up and place them in the heart of the instruments, I think they could've pulled that off. The rest of the recording is pretty damn good, but there's a lot of separation in the mix. I don't mind the tones, though. The drums are clear and natural, the bass tone has a lot of definition and plays an important role, and the guitars, while they could be thicker and more powerful, definitely get the job done. Tightening up the mix to give the instruments more warmth and cohesion would make a difference, however. Musically this is creative metalcore based around the more metallic side of the 90's type of sound, but rather than heading in a death metal type of direction with lots of tremolo picking and such, they stick with moderately paced chugga styled chord progressions that infuse a really tactful level of melody and dissonance without falling prey to too many modern metalcore trappings or ripping off any other bands per se. There are some more rocked out influences on rare occasion, and "Peace Be" has some quirky rock riffs that really stick out like a sore thumb, while "Yes This One" drops some Botch-esque riffing that I'm not a fan of in this context, but for the most part the tracks are fairly well pieced together. The only time that becomes a problem is when the songs often run more than six or seven minutes, because they're not quite creative enough to pull that off yet... though they're getting there - "As Your Claws" is a damn fine display of what they're capable of. I'm not sure what's going on visually. The entire layout is made up of abstract images that seem to have been fucked with in Photoshop, so it's basically just colors and textures. It doesn't look that hot, but I have seen worse. The lyrics aren't so bad. They're personal and not particularly different, but the writing style has an uncommon flow that I find promising. "Variety of ways to cut the nerves severed before the impulse reaches the brain no suffering if the feeling never exists genius plan with sweetest of rewards small voice whispers otherwise small tingle at the at the inner ear that the brain does not acknowledge..." Not bad. I could really see this band doing some awesome things, because this is a lot different than most anything of this general nature that I've heard in the last several years. If they can get their act together and hone their songwriting just a tad more, I really think they'll hit the mark. I hope that's where they end up, because I could potentially get pretty excited over an improved upon version of what's happening on this disc.
[self-released]
Running time - 46:25, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Once More, As Your Claws]
Of Angels and Gravediggers - [email protected]
