Labels: Different – Dingleberry – Don’t Live Like Me – Miss The Stars – Sad
Review by: Oli Saunders
I’ve left this one to last from the pile of records I’ve had sat around to review. When people send in 12”s to Collective they are making a good effort in my opinion, so a review deserves equal effort, even if the record is diabolical. Fortunately this is super solid. Mariesena hail from the Ukraine and immediately become the best band from Ukraine I have ever heard, though their only competitors were two Euro screamo bands in all fairness. The sound is refreshing; I’d liken them to Lakmé and Gattaca, but they are by no means copycats. The songs are well constructed and heartfelt. There’s a moderate epic feel to some of them but they don’t go off for too long down such paths. And there is decent variance across the whole LP.
‘Rothko’s Black No. 8’ starts the album off well. ‘Ruth Morse’ steps things up with a slow and melodic start which then goes for it. Perhaps the best song on the LP. The third track maintains quality control and in fact things don’t slip much for the remainder of the record. ‘Overcast’ is a nice ending with a relatively chilled out feel which goes for some post-rock skills at the end. I must admit, on a second listen I didn’t quite get the same enjoyment going and Mariesena aren’t going to make the Euro screamo hall of fame. But kids into this sort of sound will do well to give it a listen. Mariesena recently broke up but already two offshoot bands have formed: Yotsuya Kaidan and Jan Palach.
20th August 2015