Labels: Ascetic
Review by: Andy Malcolm
One of the things that has come to my attention whilst re-doing the C into it’s new format is that I bought a heck of a
lot of records at random a few years ago, with little to no idea as to what the band on the record is. With the advent of
MP3’s these days, it’s almost impossible for a band to be quite *that* obscure, but it’s still fun to just go out and pick
up a record without knowing much about it at all. And that’s what I did here.
Riddle of Steel play noisy indie rock that strikes me as being in the ballpark of bands like the Farewell Bend, Traindodge
or Boys Life. Now, I could just be saying that because they happen to be from Missouri and are a trio. Or I could be
saying that because they genuinely have elements of these sounds.
They are not quite so complex or mathy like those bands
were, as they plough a more straightforward melodic path, but they certainly have their moments. The vocals are kind of
strained, a bit like when the chap from At the Drive In sang instead of yelling. The track they play on here is pretty
long and it rumbles nicely, creating a groove that follows for the duration. Good stuff.
The Movement contribute 2 tracks to the other side of this blue vinyl, playing some quality, kind of arty indie rock that
rather reminds me of Crash & Britany. “Pop” has a great jangly intro before building up and getting louder, then
quietening down into subtle twinkly moments. The vocals are strong and move from drifting to sung and even to spoken at
ease. It works really well. The second track, “the Bad Seed”, is faster and rocks out a bit more – it has a darker sound,
but again is decent. Not bad at all.