No thanks. Musically this isn't bad, but I want to shoot the vocalist in the mouth and leave him for dead. All he does is shriek and squawk like a dying bird, and I god damn sure hope that his intention is to be as obnoxious as humanly possible, because otherwise he's got a severe problem on his hands. The music is caustic and abrasive metallic "screamo" hardcore with some frantic blasts and quirky runs amidst plenty of stuttered rhythms and dissonant chord phrasings. But the song structures are really tight and well organized, so there's a better sense of cohesiveness, and the rhythm section holds everything in place very well (especially the basslines). There's even a little bit of melody here and there, so I actually like some of the music a lot. The backup vocalists' yells are really good, so they should let that dude handle the lead vocals and get the lead singer as far away from the fucking band as possible. The recording's a little on the rugged side, but it works out. The vocals burn through the mix to scorch your ears in a very painful way, but that's not the mix's fault. I love the bass tone and its presence, and the drums are okay. The guitars are thick but dirty, and I can handle that as well. The bassist is the shit, so he should be the lead instrument if you ask me. The layout's alright. It's pretty minimal, using mostly photos of ants with some squiggly lines draw between them. No lyrics are included, just a little bit of additional artwork, so I have no idea what the songs are about, though most of the song titles like "This Shit is Fucked" and "Pin the Toetag on the Corpsey" suggest immense sarcasm. Who knows? Fuck it. I can't listen to this. I'd give the music alone a 6/10, but on a 10-point scale the vocals are like -1,000,000,000. Son of a bitch, I just want to stuff a sock down this bastard's throat and put and end to this misery. Can someone please tell me why in the hell a perfectly competent band would throw their efforts down the drain by letting some moron squeal all over the place like that? Make it stop...
[Alone]
Running time - 14:58, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Suspicion Breeds Confidence, Pin the Toetag on the Corpsey]
Alone Records - http://www.alonerecords.com
