Yeah, ummm, no thanks. I don't mind the fact that this is generic, but I do mind the fact that the writing isn't that hot, the vocals are abysmal, and the recording is weak. What do they sound like? You know, they do the whole singing/screaming thing (in a very screamo way with whiny, nasally, obnoxious singing and whiny, nasally, obnoxious high-pitched screaming), they blend melody and dissonance, they mix clean parts with distorted parts, there's a ton of chaotic discordant shit, there are a few chunky rhythms and some more metallic lead lines... it's totally derivative. But like I said, that's not really the problem. Make no mistake, the vocals suck and are definitely the nail in the coffin, but some of the music isn't that bad, especially the smoother clean segments. It's just that the actual structure of the songs is weak as hell. All they do is string riffs together endlessly for two, three... five... eight minutes. It's a boring mishmash of influences that has no real cohesion or fluidity. And the recording places no emphasis on the rhythm section, which it should, because the bass playing is fucking awesome. The drums sound alright but they're not warm enough, the bass needs more density and volume, the guitars need to drop back in and even out with the rhythm section, and the vocals... well... stopping short of saying they ought to get a vocalist who can actually fucking sing, they at least need to mix the screaming way down, because that squawking nonsense is fucking irritating. They could get by with this recording if they could write good songs, because it doesn't sound unprofessional, it just sounds like it lacks any force. The layout is done with a super glossy coating that makes the paper nice and thick, and I think the front cover looks really cool. The rest is all pretty close to that, but perhaps more abstract. The arrangement of the lyrics is visually fine, I'm just not that into the content as there's too much forced rhyming that kind of takes away from it. Fuck, I don't know. Musically this is 50/50, but I despise the vocals and the songs are totally boring and go nowhere. A decent amount of solid riffs doesn't amount to much when the songs don't flow and you've got some tactless buffoon playing screamo karaoke over top of everything. Sorry.
[Life Sentence]
Running time - 37:26, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: portions of "Breaking on the Wheel" and "Murder of Crows" are pretty good]
Life Sentence Records - http://www.lifesentencerecords.com
