This band features former Threadbare vocalist Brian Lovro, whose vocals in this case are not as extreme as his screaming was in Threadbare. Things are still along those lines, just a bit more harnessed. Musically this is scarcely similar to Threadbare at all. The music is a lot heavier, what I would call more straightforward, and devoid of any real melody. "Violator" opens with some thick and chunky death metal riffing and then jumps into a churning rhythmic run; "Glass Bullet" unloads twisted dissonance and a few spoken vocal parts with lots of breathing room between some of the rhythms; "Heads Up" is complete sludge/doom - heavy as fucking hell, speeding up a bit with more death metal riffing at points, although the feel isn't like death metal; "New Abuse" is sort of a mix of everything that the EP has to offer to some degree; and "Blowing Smoke" throws some distortion over the vocals, musically blending more tremolo picking death metal with slower, fucking destructive tempos - as well as some note-based runs that almost lend a weird sort of Slayer-esque feel to things. An incredibly forceful and creative drum performance accentuates all of the compositions, but sadly the drum sound is too rigid and unnatural. I do like the pop of the snare, but the kick drums are out of place. There's also some separation in the mix - the vocals feel apart from the music. I love the guitar tone though, it has a great texture to it... really gritty and thick. I just wish the bass was louder, as that would probably help fill in the gaps. The CD comes in a badass looking digipack with a matte finish. The visuals are hard to make out, everything is sort of dark and blue, looking like some kind of charred remains or something. The tracklist and band information are on the back cover, and the inner spread is subtly marbleized red with the lyrics on the inside flap. The lyrics are brief and vague, so there's plenty of room for interpretation, but the fact that things are bleak is unavoidable: "The cesspool's overflowing, You're either coming or you're going, All the time you knew it, The perfect pitch and I blew it, Biding my time in an infinite line, The stumble, The dead stop, Flooding overcoming, Vision's gone, No way to see where you're running, Dogs snapping at your heels, Fumbling rumbling train oncoming, Heads up, This one's heaven sent to fuck you up." This is an excellent debut EP, so my hopes will be high for future efforts from these guys...
[Deathwish Inc.]
Running time - 14:12, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Heads Up, Blowing Smoke]
Deathwish Inc. - http://www.deathwishinc.com
