This compilation collects five different bands, all of which are from Sweden, and acts as a bit of a sampler since most of the tracks are previously released. The Sound O.E begins with three tracks of jarring indie rock with mildly distorted guitars and a lot of emphasis on the rhythm section, while the shouting vocals fall back into the distance a touch. A lot of the material borders on being lightly frantic, with "The 20 Second Test" opening with lush clean guitars and building into more of a midpaced stroll. "The Solitaire" is a bit sparser as well, with more melody, but still messes with a lot of stuttered rhythmic movement. Set My Path then throws down three tracks of melodic Swedish death metalcore from their 2004 demo, the first of which ("Shine") features guest vocals from Peter Dolving of The Haunted. The sound is a little too raw to do the songs justice, but they bring in some interesting uses of clean and acoustic guitars for dynamics, and the writing is cool, so the overly rugged sound is the only thing holding them back in my opinion. It's not terribly original, but it is pushing for something slightly different from the norm. "All Will Die", for example, is thicker and more rhythmic, with an ominous sort of driving tempo that comes across more forcefully. Next up are three more from The Lolita Stasi Collective, all of which are unreleased. Their style is similar to that of The Sound O.E, but heavier, and with quirkier vocals that have more of a hipster indie kind of sound. Despite coming off as too thin, I like the music as it's heavier and more driving than a lot of this stuff, but the vocals are very irritating to me and kill the vibe - standing out as too loud, and stylistically rubbing me the wrong way. It's a shame, the music has some very dark moments that sets them apart from other bands in this field. The harsher screams are better, but feel strained, so they're not quite there yet either. Madison follows with some crushing metalcore with surging rhythms and some acerbic post-hardcore textures, plus a little breakdown groove action. I vaguely remember reviewing their debut EP a couple of years ago, and this is a lot better. The recording needs a little more crispness to maximize their potential, but it's thick as fuck already so I'm into it. The vocals are a mix of shouting and speaking with hints at singing, while musically faint hints of melody seep in at times as well. The note-based runs in "If This is Your Way..." are too choppy and the song is a little less effective in its overuse of groovy chords, but the other two songs kill. Closing it up is Rentokiller, whose demos really impressed me over the years. Sadly I didn't even know they had a full-length out, but these songs are very much in the vein of their demos - offering up plenty of frantic metalcore with scathing screams and tons of quick changes. The recording is too dry, were it clearer the insanity of the vocals and the technicality of the riffing would shine far more, but writing-wise these guys are definitely ahead of the pack. Expect plenty of shifts in tempo, with some really energetic speeds (check out the awesome "Post-Natal"), plenty of dissonance, chunky rhythms or flurries of chaotic notes, etc. - all performed tightly within songs of less than three minutes. The CD-R comes in a jewel case with color xeroxed artwork that actually looks to be pretty high quality. The bands each have tiny photos and contact information inside with brief snippets of lyrics, and the design is pretty damn nice as well. Some of the text is hard to read but other than that it's good stuff for a D.I.Y. affair. I'd definitely like to hear the complete releases from Madison and Rentokiller that these tracks come from, while Set My Path will be one to watch out for down the road as they progress. Not bad overall. As with any collection there's some material I could do without, but this is more good than bad for sure.
[All Systems Go!]
Running time - 47:46, Tracks: 15
[Notable tracks: Set My Path, Madison, Rentokiller]
All Systems Go! - http://www.allsystemsgo.se
