France's Superstatic Revolution kicks out some powerful metalcore. "The Satisfaction of Seeing Us Breakdown" starts with some borderline black metal chord progressions and then jumps into an awesome melodic break, then onto crazy discordance with insane drumming. Later on they drop some crazy death metal riffing, too. I'm talking brutal as fuck, pinch harmonics and all. "Originally Recorded in 1997" (yep, that's the name of the song) throws some rhythmic post-hardcore into the band's already mixed bag of styles... and even some slow and doomy note-based action!? The vocals are always unrelenting throaty screams, no question about it. The recording is pretty damn good. The guitar tone is interesting, and everything is heavy without using the typical methods - they really let the bass handle the low-end. The drums are barely rigid, and the even mix makes that less of a problem. It's actually sort of good in this case because the drumming is so great. The lyrics are brief and rather mysterious: "...withering the object of your own irony self-conveyed, Yes you're victimized but swimming in a sense of guilt." This is an impressive band. They're totally out there and not what anyone would likely expect. I think two songs is a good dose for these guys, too. Any more might be too much to take all at once. Submerge is also from France, and this is totally raw and brutal... I'd say more extreme than their last 7". Vicious low vocals, carefully melodic dissonance, forceful power chords, noisy textures... it's all here. "Light Motive" starts out slow and more rocked out, which definitely stands apart. It's fucking awesome, almost hitting on a thrash vibe as it speeds up, though still jarring and abrasive. As far as the sound, the drum tones are huge! Sadly they're sort of hard to make out due to the excess treble everywhere else. The production actually hurts them in that regard. The rhythm section sounds perfect, but the thin/loud guitars cave in the clarity so it generally sounds too messy and all over the place. It's too bad, but the songs still rip. They just need a recording comparable to that of His Hero is Gone to really fucking waste everyone. The lyrics are subtly political from a personal angle: "To find subjectivity in a full life of passions, In spite of the urge, An already struck fate to mobilize tenacity, Let's take control of our lives..." The layout is mostly text and blocks of color with a little bit of abstract imagery, but I really like the front cover. Another nice split from Shogun... watch out for both of these bands.
[Shogun]
Running time - 11:00 (approximately), Tracks: 4
[Notable tracks: The Satisfaction of Seeing Us Breakdown, Light Motive]
Shogun Records - http://www.burnoutzine.net
