97-Shiki - Bare Arms - Inquiry Last Scenery - Milvains - Split - CD (2011)

Labels: Bullwhip – Cactus – Quiet Still Dead – Tenzenmen
Review by: Oli Saunders

No I am not going to sleep yet; there is still screamo in the world that I haven’t listened to or told people about. James Bunten tells me I don’t listen to it anymore but he is wrong. Last week I stayed round Thomas Strawbridge’s house and we listened to Gauge Means Nothing into the early hours even though we had to be up mega early the following day. Case closed.

97-Shiki start proceedings with six songs. I’m sure when I heard them before they were a screamo band but here they seem like a cross between Arab on Radar and Electric Six – does that sound good to you? Sorry to be harsh but I do not like this at all.

Moving onto Bare Arms; I wrote a review of their demo a couple of years ago which I enjoyed but admittedly haven’t listened to since. Here the instruments have come along and they have got a more original sound, but it’s a bit too technical for my liking. I suppose everyone else in the world is either bored of straightforward screamo but it just seems like they are trying too hard and the intensity is lost somewhat. A tad dissapointing despite some nice words on what their songs are about.

Inquiry Last Scenery have changed a lot since their 2007 demo; I seriously wonder if any of the original members are still playing in the band. They race through seven songs here; half minute screamo songs, that’s more like it. It has very little structure but that helps. Oh yeh, and their final three songs are coming out on a split 7” very soon which I am helping to release. They sound better on vinyl and you should definitely buy it from me. It has a cool cover.

Milvains are the final band on this split. The track ‘Cantona (Sunderland 1996)’, one of the best song titles ever, makes a reappearance after also appearing on their split with Eucalypt. Unfortunately so does ‘Ombra E Polvere’ (from their demo), which whilst being an excellent song too, leaves only one new song which is okay but leaves me feeling a little cheated!

Overall, some decent songs in places, and remember what I said about that 7” split. Okay it’s midnight now and I don’t own any Gauge Means Nothing records myself, so I guess it’s time to sleep.

31st October 2011