From the "mean streets" of Philadelphia comes this "wacky" grind-ish, metalcore-ish band that basically takes nothing seriously. The music ranges from fast grind with raging vocal snarls to groovy sludge riffing or burly mosh breaks with lower shouts/growls. 20 songs in about 28 minutes. Do I like it? Not really. It's alright. I like the fact that the songs are short and to the point. But nothing really stands out to me. And since I don't think they're funny the novelty of their sarcasm does nothing for me, especially since the music doesn't make up for the fact that the band isn't half as funny as they might think they are. They seem to be tight players, not that they're technical or anything, but they sound together. It's pretty boring, though. They've got some good songs, but like I said, nothing really stands out. They tend to focus on speed (used best in tracks like "Drinkability"), but slower pieces like "Aggressive Marketing Strategies" are a bit stronger in my opinion. Noisy and ridiculous tracks like "Friendly Neighborhood Bomber" pretty much ruin any continuity the disc might otherwise possess, though. The recording is expectedly raw. It works alright, though. Sometimes the vocals are sort of far out front, but the bass is audible, the guitar tone is decent, and the general mix is strong enough to get by. For what basically amounts to a demo of sorts this sounds fine to my ears. The CD is pressed on a pro CD, but the layout is a shoddy job done on a home computer. Go figure. It looks pretty crappy compared to the illustration on the CD face, what with the horribly Photoshopped photo of the band members posing with guns and beer, but what can you do? The lyrics, as suggested by song titles like "Toilet Boy", are pretty horrible as well, referencing beatings, anal rape, "smackin' bitches", and all that other fun stuff that these guys are trying to use to be funny, but really just comes off as uncreative and unamusing. I think that's the main thing I can't handle about this band. I just hate the way they're presenting themselves. I don't know what drives people to put out stuff that looks like this, but so many bands do it... Umin? They either need to get funny or try taking a serious route. There's nothing here that needs to be heard by anyone outside of their circle of friends.
[self-released]
Running time - 28:29, Tracks: 20
[Notable tracks: Aggressive Marketing Strategies, Drinkability]
Umin - [email protected]
