Here's some melodic straightedge hardcore from Italy that's a lot more upbeat than I had expected it to be, at least musically. There's a mix of singing and yelling, lots of octave chords and melodic tinges to the rhythms, etc. Admittedly the singing vocals aren't that hot, they need some work, and hell, the yelling isn't that hot either, it's sort of weak and falters too much, but I do like a lot of the music. "Martyr" even begins with some acoustic guitars before bringing in some cool arpeggiated riffs that remind me of later Turning Point. "Empty Stare" is a little bit faster, and I like that a lot, because a number of the songs are the same midpaced tempo, and that starts of make things drag from time to time, but this song immediately jumps out as more energetic and memorable. The recording sounds a little dated and has a distant sort of ring to it, sort of like something that might have come out in the mid-90's or something, but the mix is pretty good, so it's easy to listen to. I sort of like the guitar tone, if for no other reason than the nostalgia that it brings back from this genre 10 or so years ago. The layout is really cool and has some solid live photos, clean text, a good color scheme, etc. Along with the lyrics is a really intelligent commentary on the band's ideas regarding straightedge. The actual songs deal with a mix of personal issues and more political types of things from war and corruption to social classes and American imperialism. I like this. They need to tighten up the performances a little bit and work on the vocals, but the songs are cool and I'd be interested to hear more from this band at some point.
[Equality]
Running time - 23:51, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Martyr, Empty Stare]
Equality Records - http://www.equalityrecords.com
