ANTHYM “Masks of Sanity”
This band amazingly combines the sounds of a youthful fascination with early Fat Wreck bands and the modern emo/hardcore crossover sound that’s increasingly pervasive today. This confluence of sounds results in a band that comes off as a hybrid between DEATH BY STEREO, THRICE, and “Hoss” era LAGWAGON. Although not exactly a “tech” band, ANTHYM feature stellar dueling guitars, and complicated, energetic drumming. The vocals at times on “Masks of Sanity” are very Joey Cape in that they exhibit a strong range of wailing, but never feel overbearing in relation to the thumping, rapid-fire music. Unlike a lot of contemporaries, ANTHYM make no strides to place a false image pretense before the listener. No superflous instruments are used in tandem with the band’s songwriting. “Masks of Sanity” sounds like a very real album – one that could have been recorded off the sheer adrenaline rush of playing fast music (and recorded no less by Donnell Cameron at Westbeach!). Thankfully, no piano, violin, or entirely unnessary choir group shows up on this recording, ignoring the absurd trends that are continually pushing the envelope of what yields “emotion” into serious shame. Lyrically, the band’s style falls similar to THRICE, minimizing the amount of words needed to convey poignancy. The vocals are easy to sing along to, and engage the listener to follow intently. With eleven mature tracks that cover 37 minutes, ANTHYM have dropped one heck of a self-released debut, which makes me beg this question – why isn’t this band signed yet? If you’re looking for a band that can pay tribute to the melodic hardcore bands of the mid 90s, and yet feel perfectly natural with the ever-developing hardcore/metal influences of today, ANTHYM have something pretty exciting going on.
Self Released
