IN THE FACE OF WAR “Self-Reliance is Self Destruction”
This band is just brimming with angst, energy and emotion, swirled up and mixed tight with hardcore passion and influences. Although the production on here leaves much to be desired (it just sounds very amateurish), the equally poignant traces of BOY SETS FIRE and STRUNG OUT keep me intrigued. From a current perspective that takes into account some genre bending, it would be easy to write this off as “emo-core,” but I think the band is a lot deeper into their sound and range than applying a term frequently assessed to the hollow, but rockin’ FINCH. Anyway, churning guitars (and there’s three of them!) and gut-wrenching vocals (both singing and screaming) work in tandem to build some serious flow in the majority of the songs, supported by a manic drummer whose mantra is probably based around bashing everything hittable in sight. The occasional lapse into the “forbidden beat” is always welcome in my book, which as seen on the PREVENT FALLS cd, helps mix up tempos to a favorable degree. Lyrically, this band reminds me of THRICE, taking ahold of that “fewer words, bigger images” strategy, especially on the songs, “Sometimes the Answer is No,” and “Slanted Letters,” where the vocals on the latter track hold, “the mind of a sinful man is death but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace.” The artwork on here suits the band well too, as it’s bustling imagery of warfare combats the noises contained wherein. “Self-Reliance…” isn’t a pefect release, as a fair number of songs seem to run together, but of the many releases I’ve come across lately, this band’s intensity and power is admirable and with further attempts to improve songwriting, they could have something stunning in their reach.
Together Records
