I don't know what to make of this. It's chunky, rhythmic, heavy as hell material that, to me, sounds like a mix of metalcore and weird technical/math-y death metal. The vocals are midrange growls with a few leans towards screaming, the music often rolls along at a moderate pace with lots of chugging start/stop chord progressions and dissonant notes, and there are some faster areas that get a little more frantic but never truly chaotic. The basslines are definitely awesome, doubling the guitars for added thickness at times and roaming elsewhere to become more prominent at others, which is a nice touch. I actually think the bass gets the best spot in the recording as well. The drums are a little off, not bad, but a little off; the guitars are thick as hell but not quite crisp enough to be perfect; and the vocals overload a little bit and peak out to minimal distortion, which adds unnecessary rawness to the mix. But the bass is perfectly smooth and really has a solid presence, so I'm all for that. For an independently released EP it sounds pretty good, but they need a little cleaning up in that department to truly hit the nail on the head. I like the songwriting for the most part, though. Sometimes the vocal patterns are a little too Lamb of God-esque, but the music only bears minimal similarities to the same band, and they're pretty effectively using repetition as well as scattered shifts to pull through four- to six-minute tracks. There are certainly a few riffs that hit on some quirkier technical influences, but nothing too flamboyant at all, so stylistically they're largely consistent. "Thick Norwegian Accent" throws in some jumpier grooves and tremolo picking riffs that I honestly find quite awful compared to the rest of the disc, and not coincidentally it's also one of the busier compositions; as is closer "What About Jon Lovitz?", which is another whose more abrasive side doesn't gel with me as much (the clean break totally rules, though). Visually? Well, the inner pages are all black with dark gray text that looks pretty clean, and I like that. But the outer sleeve looks like ass. There are some weird, childish sort of drawings of monster/warrior creatures or something. Totally tacky. I'm not getting that at all, especially in comparison to the lyrics, which are blunt and lightly sarcastic with a shitload of bitterness involved. "She had me sold the second she walked in the door. I had me dead the second dead had me sold. Write a book on self esteem. You're a real authority on that, you dick. Slide down the barrel, let go of my throat..." Yeah, the art is definitely not at all a good representation of the music or lyrical content. Ignoring that, I like this for the most part. They're not fully developed yet, and there are some weak songs/terrible riffs, but it's far more good than bad. I'm starting to think that I'm not sure if the vocals totally fit the music, or perhaps might just be too one-sided, but there are some promising elements here that would make me imagine the band doing stronger work down the road.
[Whorth]
Running time - 26:58, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Cigarette Put Out in Blood, Give the Man a Towel]
Whorth Records - http://www.whorth.com
