Three quick tracks of angular sort of indie material from Japan. I like most of the music in its shifts from louder chords to softer distortion and semi arpeggiated riffs, but there are definitely some slightly noisy and loose textures to the guitar playing, and the vocals (as sparse as they are) are vicious screams with a little distortion, clashing a bit with the overall sense of dark melody that the music has. As is often the case with these types of bands the rhythm section is rock solid and holds things in place, but thankfully the guitars really don't wander too much at all. Honestly the vocals are the only thing holding it back for me because the vocals sound too "screamo" and sort of emotionless against the music. The last track has a Japanese title and is much more aggressive vocally and musically, a bit more rhythmic and stuttered, making for an ironically "heavy" approach even though it seems to go lighter on distortion in some ways. The recording is unbalanced, but alright. The vocals are usually leaning more towards one channel than the other, which is annoying, but everything else is mixed well. The tones are a little dirty, but it's pretty clear and I'm not bothered by its rugged underbelly. The layout is minimal as hell: A simple sleeve screenprinted (I think) in the darkest black ink I've ever seen with minimal text and no real artwork, just a UPC code type of bar across the front, and a black bar on the back. No lyrics or anything are included, just the tracklist. I'm generally not into this stuff, and this demo is flawed, but it's oddly good for what it is. Something about the eerie melody they infuse behind the core of the music is highly effective. I'd like to hear them tighten up the recording and work with more vocal variety, but who knows? The instrumental "Theme" is the best track herein, so the vocals are the weak link.
[Versus Horse]
Running time - 10:41, Tracks: 3
[Notable tracks: Theme, Nosebleed]
Versus Horse Recordings - http://versushorserecor.hp.infoseek.co.jp
