The Bricks play straight up punk rock with plenty of energetic speed and stinging vocal yells. I don't listen to a whole lot of this stuff, but I do tend to enjoy it, and these guys are great at what they do. The songs are driving in tempo and fairly memorable as far as vocal arrangements go, with "Out of Luck" being catchier and more melodic, sprucing things up with tempo shifts rather frequently. They definitely have that whole "east bay" type of sound going on, reminding me of early Grimple or Operation Ivy (with no damn ska, thank you), but tighter and a bit faster. The production isn't bad. It's thin and somewhat quiet, but I can live with it. I really like the basslines, but the bass needs more low-end. It definitely needs the crisp definition that it has so the complexity of the bass runs can jump out, but there's not enough density holding these songs down. I guess really they just need brighter highs and thicker lows, more general contrast. The lyrics are handwritten and hard as hell to read, but the songs are pretty standard as far as attacking the cops, political corruption, the commercialization of war, etc. I like it. Two Days of Freedom drops three tracks of punk, but it's way more melodic and rock based. They also have a damn good bassist that plays a dominant role in driving the songs, but the vocals range from raspy yelling in key to more of a singing style. They also explore more dynamics as far as mixing in clean guitars and things like that. The songs are definitely memorable, it's not at all what I expected, but they're really pretty damn good. I'd say the same for their recording as I did for The Bricks: It's pretty good, but on the thin side, and it needs more low-end to balance it out. I have no major gripes, however. I'm not that big a fan of their lyrics, I don't know: "Sometimes I feel less than equal, Makes my own mind question, I want some answer to be delivered, Makes my whole self quiver..." The record comes in a cool diecut sleeve that meets in the center and overlaps, and a black and white insert is inside with the lyrics and photos and all that. I kind of thought I wouldn't like this, so I'm pleasantly surprised, definitely.
[Hyperrealist]
Running time - 12:00 (approximately), Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: 5-0 Frustration, Battle Productions, Fluid]
Hyperrealist - http://www.hyperrealist.com
