After an annoying ambient/sample intro that runs longer than most of these songs, these guys break into more than 20 tracks of drum machine grind/hardcore/sludge/crossover with an average running time of about 20 to 30 seconds each. The vocals are usually throaty screams with some practically inaudible low growls, and the vocals and drum machines are of course much louder than the guitars and bass, so it's not the most pleasant thing to listen to. Honestly I expected worse, the songs are tolerable, but it's still not great. The high speed grind riffs are pretty typical, I like some of the slightly slower rhythms that have a crossover feel, and I'm not into the quirky little humorous bits that they throw in. The recording rawness doesn't bother me. The drum machines sound decent, I like the distortion over the vocals, and I could probably live with the weird guitar tone were it a little thicker in the mix (or if the bass were significantly louder). The playing is flawed at times, but I doubt they're shooting for perfection here. The problem is that, despite some cool riffs (the slower and doomy runs in tracks like "Violent Kingdom of Fire" and "Mitosis" are great), there aren't really any complete songs that I enjoy. I think it's all just a bit too crude for me, though good songwriting could definitely overcome the performance and recording flaws, so... The booklet is a xerox and has handwritten lyrics for some tracks along with a drawing of someone whose face has been partially ripped off. It actually looks better than the back cover, which is a pixilated color xerox that at times has handwritten text over top of illegible typesetting problems. This is a demo with silly content so they can get away with it, but doing the whole thing in black and white would've been better. The lyrics are "humorous" and deal with things like cats getting drunk, taking bong hits, smoking blunts, drowning people in toilet bowls, and other such topics that I have no interest in. I don't know. It's not a one-sided demo, I'll give 'em that. They're all over the place stylistically. Shit, some parts even sound like black metal!? And I can't say I don't think they could actually do some good work, because I'm sure they could... but I don't really get a kick out of the humor here, so that's just another strike against its somewhat shoddy finish.
[self-released]
Running time - 23:18, Tracks: 25
[Notable tracks: few are truly terrible, but none really strike me as good either]
Shit Life - [email protected]
