I've seen this band's name around many times, but never heard them before, and honestly that's just as well, because I think this disc is boring. They're an instrumental trio that dwells largely on sparse, drawn out passages that bear some resemblance to droning progressive rock, but it's all relatively abstract and comes off as somewhat improvisational. I love the sound and solidity of the rhythm section, but the guitars do nothing for me. The recording is nice and natural, a little flat and distant at times, but it works. However, the heavy guitar tone lacks force, the softer textures are just not that interesting, and most of the riffs are sort of bland. Some get a little caustic and noisy, others more winding and rhythmic in a math metal kind of way (which I much prefer), some more of a bluesy lead line-ish variety, etc. But the bottom line is that the disc contains 16 tracks, runs more than an hour, and it drags on like a motherfucker. It's not bad, it's just boring. Maybe it's just me, I don't know, but most of the songs sound rather similar to one another, and you could quite easily string this thing out into one lengthy composition without much of a hassle. "I Denounce the Government" is more structured and tangible in the guitar department at times, flirting with the math rock sort of vibe, and I can dig that. I like the sparseness and the way they really let all three instruments play an equal role, but it's only when the guitars lock into more of a concrete riff that this really sets hold. "Last Wish" is one of the more effectively dynamic tracks, with some strong heaviness (thanks in large part to the basslines) and softer passages - granted, like most every track, it does have some noisy textures that drag out and serve no real purpose, but... "Side Naked" is another heavy track, using plenty of acerbic textures over forceful rhythms, and "Staying Here Intro" is a brief finger-picked acoustic piece that I actually really like - leading into the awesomely melodic "Staying Here", which contains by far the best riffs on the entire CD. In fact, despite being one of the single longest tracks at five minutes, it's coincidentally an awesome selection. My favorite herein and something I find the band to be insane for not exploring more often... the melodies are totally powerful, the lead playing emotional... excellent work there. But I also don't care for the layout on this thing at all. The whole thing consists of fuzzy live photos, which looks okay, but the color scheme is kind of annoying and the text all looks really bland. The typeface is boring, the colors of the text aren't a good match for the images, etc. It's just plain and sort of crude looking in a sense. I don't know, shit... I'm just not liking this CD. I'm honestly so bored by it that I'm irritated trying to force myself to sit through an entire hour of it to give it a proper review. I can respect what they're doing, but this isn't for me. "Staying Here" is an incredible song and the band should really do more stuff like that, though!
[At a Loss]
Running time - 61:17, Tracks: 16
[Notable tracks: I Denounce the Government, Staying Here Intro, Staying Here]
At a Loss Recordings - http://www.atalossrecordings.com
