Not bad. Heavy old school styled hardcore from Canada with a good mix of speed and slower breakdowns, and vocals that are straight yells and have a pretty cool sound to 'em. The recording isn't bad, but needs a little something more. The bass tone is fucking killer and plays a nice role in the center of the mix, and everything else sounds decent as well, but there's a little added space in the mix and the guitar tone can feel somewhat thin. It doesn't need to be much heavier, but maybe they need to double the guitars or something to add more density and force? I think that would help. The songwriting is of course somewhat generic, throwing in little dashes of melody to give it a more contemporary sound, but overall things are short and to the point and follow the traditional style pretty closely. The title track is among the faster and more succinct cuts, but "Oneway System" is a little slower and far more melodic, using creative guitar riffs layered against pulsing bass to create a much more powerful composition that stands apart from the other songs quite a bit. Were they to reach that level of creativity in all the songs they'd really be onto something. They close with a cover of "Sneakers" by the Teen Idles, which is also slightly catchier and more memorable than many of their originals. The record comes in a black and white sleeve with a drawing on the cover and handwritten text with a photo on the back. The back cover is actually better looking than anything else since the inner spread is sort of plain, and the cover just doesn't look all that hot - even if it is sort of playing into the whole youth crew look or whatever. Despite the record's title, which relates to the recent marketablity of "hardcore" and "punk", the lyrics generally deal with frustrations and living life outside of society's constraints and stuff like that. I believe this is the band's debut EP, and it's a nice start. However, "Oneway System" is far superior to the other songs, and thus makes a lot of this material seem a little stale by comparison. So... I'd like to see the band flex that creativity more often.
[Carte Blanche]
Running time - 11:00 (approximately), Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Oneway System, Sneakers]
Carte Blanche Records - [email protected]
