Labels: Hansei
Review by: Oli Saunders
This tape has been a while coming but it’s here at last and the package looks pretty neat as a whole. I think Weltschmerz was actually originally released in 2008 as a CDr, perhaps by the band or another label, so here it is making its tape debut. I prefer tapes anyway so it’s worth the wait. This is Hansei records’ second release after the impressive Chinese Dama 7” a couple of years back.
Men As Trees are yet another screamo band, and furthermore are another band with post rock influences; a fairly common trait in recent years. In fact the first five or so minutes of this record could have pretty much been ripped off from an Explosions In The Sky record. It’s sufficiently well done though to stay interesting if you like that sort of sound which I fortunately do. And I know the build up is gonna eventually come from which intense vocals will join in. When they do I am happy to say it works together really well. Some people think that post rock has no place in screamo but I disagree. This band are basically what would happen if EITS did decide to drop their trendy act and started adding screamo to the mix. Maybe one day they will, i’d probably be into it. Anyway, back to Men As Trees the vocals are pretty cool and reasonably original sounding – they remind me of the latest Mesa Verde record: mostly shouted, with occasional jerky bits of desperation added. The guitars are solid throughout – post rock like in places, octave chord screamo in others.
The songs are pretty similar sounding to be fair – fast bit, slow bit, etc. – here in lies the downfall of the genre in general as it can get monotonous. I have been dissapointed by albums by Pianos Became The Teeth and StapH, for example. But I enjoy this tape for sure, the songs are pretty damn long by the way. Four songs make up forty minutes with two shorter interludes. And they throw in some audio samples about the great outdoors to keep things interesting and there’s a violin on the third track. Overall, you’ll probably know already if this is something you might want to check it out but if you do like the post rock combined with screamo sound then I certainly recommend this. The vocals have really grown on me over time too, I don’t think I liked them when I first heard this band a couple of years back. They’ve had a fair few other releases over the course of this time and have got some upcoming splits coming out on vinyl, I will be interested to see how their sound has evolved.
20th March 2010