Yage - s/t - 7

Labels: Earth Water Sky Connection – Nova
Review by: Andy Malcolm

This German band have seriously gone over the top on the packaging. Thick cardboard, a cut out in the cover that partially shows a photo underneath. A big thick photocopied booklet of words in Deutsch and English. I think they are pretty political, but I don’t understand much German. Sorry.

Shame the music wasn’t so neat. It’s not bad, just not that original. Crunchy, emocore with lots of little touches that just about endear it to me. Vocals are well shouted, definitely giving the impression that it’s all coming from the heart. But the hardcore is what lets it down. I’m having a hard time enthusing to it. They do have nice jangly emo breakdowns at times, which rail against the tide of the relentless ‘core attack, but when the ‘core isn’t really encouraging me to get up and stomp around the room, it’s all pretty irrelevant. I can’t put my finger on exactly why it isn’t that exciting. It’s nice and crunchy, not too heavy, not overly melodic, maybe that’s the problem. It’s neither here nor there. Other bits of it sound like they are going to be great, “Herz” is a decent enough track, firing off at an unstoppable pace to begin with, then doing the slow bits, alternating with the fast again, but it drags by the end. I dunno, the style is kinda a bit like Portraits of Past. If that helps.

Um, passes me by to be honest. Maybe I’d get more out of it if I understood German, as I’m sure their hearts in the right place. Sorry Yage.