I can't say this is my thing, but it's really not bad for what it is, and with some work I could actually see this band dropping some really enjoyable songs. For the most part it's heavy rock with a southern sounding influence to some of the riffing without getting sludgy or anything, and there's also a catchier sort of grunge thing happening (yeah, I said it). The vocals are gruffly sung with a lot of emphasis, I think the guy's a really good singer, so if the actual chord progressions and everything were equally as emphatic it could work. If I could offer one key suggestion it would be to watch the lengths of the songs, because a lot of the tracks that run more than six or seven minutes are no more involved than the shorter pieces, and the repetition just wears thin. The obvious result is a record that's too long for its own good, so despite the fact that they mix it up with everything from awesome old school metal rhythms to songs like "No Evil", which is a sort of ballad, doesn't end up making a huge difference. I like some of the melody employed in "Right Wrong and in Between", but overall few of the songs are completely memorable, so all of the great parts that exist within the whole can't save it. For a self-released effort the recording is quite good, though. The drums sound triggered to the point where the kicks are a little clicky and there's not enough natural density, and I can't make out the bass in a lot of cases, but most of the guitar tones are great. Some of the lush clean textures are especially nice. I guess they really just need to work for an even mix with a little bit more low-end density - as long as they don't sacrifice any clarity. But I'm not into the layout at all. It is a good attempt, as far as print quality it's been handled tastefully and they did try, but it still comes off looking very typically self-released. The photos are sort of silly, they use way too many busy fonts that are hard on the eyes, it's not too consistent, etc. Lyrically most of the songs are bitter and angry personal excursions that don't really grab me at all either. So... I don't know. I like bits and pieces of this stuff, but in a sense the mishmash of different directions is almost confusing - do they want to be heavy, or do they want to be rocked out and catchy?
[self-released]
Running time - 54:56, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: none of them jump out at me, but there are some promising moments]
Torn - http://www.wearetorn.com
