Review: The Hard Devils “s/t” CD

Whoa, truth be told this Finnish trio is pretty terrible. It's basically melodic punk rock 'n' roll with midpaced tempos some of the most atrocious singing I've ever heard. The guy kind of sounds like maybe he's going for a Danzig sort of sound (circa The Misfits, of course), with a few more lightly "snarled" lines, but the vocals are very strained, very off, and very fucking bad. Sorry, but this dude was not made to be a singer. Some of the music is okay, but it's all sort of similar in tempo, so it gets stale regardless. Expect pretty straightforward rock 'n' roll chord progressions that at times lean in a bluesy direction or a more energized punk vein, very brief melodic solos, but the writing is never fast enough and I can't even begin to stress to you how horrible the vocalist is. I feel bad zeroing in on the guy, but I'm serious when I say that this band will never go anywhere if they don't get a new vocalist. I'm cringing just listening to this stuff, honestly. The recording isn't as bad as everything else, but the mix needs to put much more emphasis on the guitars. Trying to ignore the vocals, I think this sounds okay for a demo, it's a little raw but seems effective. The singing is too far out front though, which is a shame since that's the worst element of the entire band. The CD-R comes with xeroxed packaging on bright orange paper, and the D.I.Y. layout honestly looks pretty crappy. The imagery is uninteresting and there's nothing much to it, no lyrics or anything like that are included. This is a weak demo, though. All of it. Ironically the best song is the awfully titled "Heavy Pussy", but the vocal performance still blows. Play faster and get a new singer and you'll have more potential, especially with the melodic tinges of "Midnight Screams" and the more straightforward punch of "Heavy Pussy". But, again... play faster and get a new singer.