Labels: Init
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Ah, new Ricky Fitts stuff. About time too! Are these guys every gong to get round to doing an LP? I certainly hope so. This’ll do in the meantime mind you.
First side here though is Eyes of Verotika, who caught me off guard initially with their song – I was expecting more screamy emo following on from their 12″, but they start rocking out with some fast paced melodic punk that sounds more like Small Brown Bike or something! Works well, but they can’t resist delving back into the screamin’ chaos within a minute or so, doing the harsh screamo vocals, whilst the music gets a little rougher. They do dip back into the sung vocals now and again, the effect being that this comes across as similar to something like Hot Cross perhaps. This is ok overall, though I preferred the songs from the LP.
The Fitts donate an extremely muddy song that could pass for a demo track, luckily its good stuff. Also their song is called “A Cyclops Without His Eye is Like A Triceratops With No Try” which makes no bloody sense at all. I love the moody intro with twinkling guitars, reminds of something like the Lazarus Plot at their most energetic. The vocals are distant and distorted, and there is a killer emo guitar line melodically running through the whole thing, with the bass pushing things along subtly. The song builds and builds and builds before coming to an abrupt end. This is a really good track, but as much as I like rough sounding music, this is let down slightly by the recording (I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it was done live).