After a very unnecessary intro consisting of painfully overused Charles Manson samples, bagpipes, and plenty of gunfire/explosions, these guys jump over into a brand of frenzied metallic hardcore that's somewhat jumbled and inconsistent stylistically. One minute it's midpaced and dissonant metal riffs with sick vocal growls, the next it's typical hardcore rhythms fronted by regular shouting, then it's onto some quirky faster picking that flirts with grinding snarls, etc. It's promising on some minor level, but the writing definitely lacks direction and the recording is awful. The drums dominate the mix, the bass is barely audible, the guitar tone is too raw and thin, and the vocals are just plain. All of the elements lack character and come off as too rough/bland, so it sounds more like a demo than a proper full-length. With a much smoother and heavier sound they'd be in a better position, so it's hard to get a real feel for their work based on this effort, but I'd recommend they toss the more typical hardcore trappings as that stuff isn't up to snuff against the darker and more aggressive riffing. The faster moments are also rather weak if you ask me, so I think the slower and more sinister vibe is where the band should focus their efforts. "Another Day Betrayed", for example, is just an awful song... the sneering vocals over the pseudo groovy rhythms are annoying, the faster riffs are really boring... it's just lacking all around. "All is Dead" opens with a nice bass intro and a much slower and more laidback pace, but the pinch harmonics that kick in with the distortion aren't working for me at all. Closing the disc are two covers, "Devilock" by The Misfits (they don't pull it off) and the mighty "Systems Overload" by Integrity - where of course the vocal performance is fucking atrocious compared to the original, thus stripping away the power. And... totally honest? The layout on this thing is fucking awful. All of the imagery is inconsistent in color scheme and grainy in quality, the fonts are totally inconsistent, most of the text is brutally hard to read due to busy backgrounds, poor coloring, etc. Thankfully the lyrics aren't quite as weak as overly simplistic song titles like "Fuck All You Worthless Bastards" and "Surrounded by Idiots" would suggest, though: "Within the four walls that this earth stands for, People lie and people die, Cycle grows forever restless, Feed and feed the hate machine..." I'm not wild on the lyrics, but I do think some of the song titles are a little cheesy in directness since there's no humor or sarcasm here at all. I'm just not into this. Some of the thicker discordance in the title track is cool, but they're all over the place with this thing, and the overall feel is too sloppy and lacking in force to do any significant damage.
[Puncturetech]
Running time - 28:01, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: there's no one song that grabs me]
Puncturetech Productions - [email protected]
