Labels: Slave Union
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I got some copies of this for distro. I sent some $ to the guy who put it out (Justin), but he never received my money. Yet he sent me the records anyway! Random acts of kindness = keeps hardcore tickin’.
Anyways, I haven’t listened to this one a whole bundle but giving it another check over now I probably should have because this is pretty decent screamy emo / hardcore. Of course, there is 903 other screamy emo / hardcore bands out there currently (a conservative estimate) so it is nothing particularly out of the ordinary, but it does sound good to these (rather blocked up) ears. It has the requisite melodic parts, the big build ups, bits where they sing and scream at the same time, yep, many traditional elements for this style of music, but they bring plenty of energy and hit with impact. For those who need comparisons, it’s the usual suspects – Saetia, Funeral Diner, Four Hundred Years. That kind of late 90’s type thing. “It’s Not Me, It’s You” does the mix up of singing and screaming to best effect, everything tangles together and I bet the band flails around a lot whilst playing live. Occasionally they get a bit too metal for my tastes (like the chugger riffs on “Lessons in Accident Prevention”, but for the most part I can recommend this to anyone who likes the screamy end of the emo spectrum.