PermanentAnother fine offering from a Richmond, VA band on a solid label that has worked with Blacklisted, Sinking Ships, Force of Change, Pressure, Defiant Hearts, and Cruel Hand. Formed in late 2004, the band has released a demo CD-R and a CD/7" titled "Sleeping".
There are ten songs of quality melodic hardcore, most of which barely creep over the two-minute mark. These guys have a good sense of how to fuse melody and driving punk rock. They know when and how to change it up, a great example would be in "Sidestepping", they placed a cool little reggae part at the end that just came out of nowhere and perfectly fit into the song.
Awesome lyrics with no repeats throughout, no choruses or anything of that nature. It almost seems like there is a general concept and theme throughout the lyrics, it's essentially about the singer's trials and tribulations of being in a band, being on the road, having band members part ways, trying to balance home life and the road, trying to overcome doubts, etc,. One of the most memorable lines of the album came from the final track "Virtue of Vices": "the comfort of trading work weeks for weekends and security, or freedom...I know there's a comfort in these dead end jobs and work week rat races. The song "And Kings" use quotes from Joanna Newsom, a harpist/songwriter from Nevada City, CA and Mike Peters from The Alarm. If someone said what you want to say, it makes sense.
This was recorded at Planet Red Studio, so you know it's going to be a good recording. And not only does it sound good but spectacular. The guitars have fullness, distortion and clarity. The bass beefs up the mix plenty, nice warm round tone. The drums sound great, good placement and solid tone across the board. No effects on the vocals, good placement and crystal clear.
When receiving this album I thought for sure it was going to be some screamo/indie rock band or some shit judging by the artwork. Really not my thing. It has crude hand drawings of a mermaid and monster swimming in water placed over a blue sky/lighting background. On the back of the CD it's a drawing of two dudes, one swimming and of course one sinking. At least they didn't use this layout and then use a black background with white text, they used a pastel yellow with the same waves used on the front cover to display the lyrics over six pages.
Rating: 4/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Can't Settle, Sidestepping and Virtue of Vices
Synopsis: Just when I thought there was no way I could get into another melodic hardcore band I was proven wrong. These guys have a knack for good song writing, especially from a lyrical stand point. Don't judge this book by its cover. If you like bands like MLIW, Reach The Sky, Set Your Goals, Rivalry Records, pick this up.