BraindeadUpon first my listen to the debut full-length from Philadelphia's Braindead, I inevitably gave a proverbial shrug of the shoulders while the CD found itself sink to the bottom of my review pile. Braindead incorporate a lot of odd time changes and excellent musicianship to their brand of melodic hardcore. It's a pretty risky combination that Braindead seem to pull off the more listens I give this record.
So I partially admit to being wrong in my initial judgment of this album. It certainly is a better CD than I would have admitted a few weeks ago. I still think Braindead has room for improving the cohesiveness of the overall record. Keep in mind that I am not a huge fan of instrumentals and especially dislike elongated ones plopped dead in the middle of the album. That is the case on 'No Consequence', where "Dear Allison" disrupts the flow the album took 5 songs to build (the first track, "ATI" is an instrumental opener). As I said before, it is a risky marriage in hardcore to place such ambitiousness alongside the pure aggression of hardcore without sounding like a poor "post-hardcore" group. Don't get me wrong, I would never discourage ambition and original ideas in a scene that offers countless repetition, however, this album needs to find a better bridge between such ideas.
In regards to giving the readers an idea on what Braindead sounds like…I would compare their melodic yet aggressive hardcore to bands such as Dead Hearts and Count Me Out. Some of the more aggressive parts remind me of The Hope Conspiracy or Modern Life Is War while the more melodic sections bring No Trigger and early Lifetime. Braindead certainly have a great sound and isn't your run-of-the-mill hardcore group of unskilled musicians just throwing tunes together out of boredom. They can actually play their instruments pretty well, have well written and thought-provoking lyrics while attempting something somewhat new with their songs. I'm glad I got to the bottom of my review pile finally and gave this album another chance.
Rating: 3.5/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: "An Exercise In Bad Taste", "Guilt And Shame" & "So Single"
Synopsis: Good release from a band that has enormous upside to their potential. They are certainly one of the better Philly bands to come out of The City Of Brotherly Love in recent years. Check these guys out now and gain mad scene points when they blow up in a few years!