I'm not really sure what the deal is with this record. At first I thought it was a new studio album, but it's really more of an EP with some bonus material tacked on or something. There are some unreleased studio tracks that I believe were leftovers from the "End Transmission" sessions, but the songs are mixed in amidst a few cover songs and remixes of tracks from "End Transmission", so there's not that much of a flow per se. The new songs are pretty good. They're a bit more melodic and rocked out in some ways, especially "New Academy", but they're understandably not too far from the band's last full-length. I get tired of the consistency of the vocal delivery, but the writing is more memorable and energetic than it has been on the last few records, I think. The cover of Helmet's "Blacktop" isn't bad, it sounds a bit more straightforward here, but it's so very clearly a Helmet song that they haven't really taken many liberties. I'm not that big on Jane's Addiction but honestly that has little bearing on the fact that the cover of "Mountain Song" is just painful, and the two Devo covers ("Freedom of Choice" and "Gates of Steel") are just boring. "Gates of Steel" is alright I guess since it has more of a punk feel, but the vocals just don't work out. The remixes - "Believe/Revolt (Relocation Blueprint)", "Ten A.M. (Good Morning, Mr. Coelacanth", and "Exile Etiquette (Only British People Can Fly)" - aren't that great. They're not bad, but they're typical - keeping many vocal lines intact and adding in electronics and programmed beats, sometimes adding new melodies, other times keeping the structures and keys closer to the original tracks. I don't have a real problem with the recording at all. It's dense and natural, and fairly clear. The basslines could probably use more definition, and the vocals are sort of annoyingly muddy, so they can be overpowering in a sense... they need more clarity, but other than that it's fine. The layout's pretty minimal and while it looks okay, it's not that informative at all. It's done in hyper bright pink and white, and there's really nothing in the booklet that indicates what this record is all about, other than the fact that a few songs are credited to other writers and whatnot. There's supposed to be a video for "A Synthesis of Classic Forms" on the CD-Rom, but I couldn't get it to work, so who knows? All I can say is that they should have at least organized the content better here. The new songs should have all appeared together since those are the only songs herein that are really worth hearing, and then the remixes and covers should have been add-ons if all that necessary. I like the new tracks, but the rest bores me, and the booklet is so uninformative that nothing grabs my attention. I have to admit, Snapcase is finally wearing out their welcome for me... this feels like a filler release to buy time until their next studio effort, and I don't think it was a necessary move.
[Victory]
Running time - 38:41, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: New Academy, Depth of Field, Makeshift Tourniquet]
Victory Records - http://www.victoryrecords.com
