Soul ControlFrom Providence, RI comes Soul Control who is a newer band that will surely be on the tip of peoples' tongues soon enough. Just judging by the name you could already guess what these guys will sound like and who they are influenced by. If you guessed Bad Brains, 108, Burn, and Quicksand you'd be right on the money.
There are four sweet tracks of rhythmically driven hardcore with some well placed octaves that takes cues from the aforementioned bands. And boy do these guys do it well. On Side A, the band seems to focus more on heavy, driving rhythms, while on Side B the band starts to explore more melodic territories with more use of short bursts of leads and octaves. I would definitely like to hear more of the latter because it really compliments the vocals and quite frankly it just sounds awesome.
The lyrics essentially tells the listener to try to change themselves for the better before they set out trying to change the world. And I couldn't agree more, people need to take accountability for themselves. The lyrics definitely show promise, I'm interested in seeing what they come up with next.
Really solid recording that sounds modern with just the slightest dated sound, if that even makes sense. The bass tone really outlined the mix well, and has good presence. The tone of the guitars are really fluid and sounded good. The drums were mixed in nicely with the bass, and the snare and cymbals sounded warm. The vocals were ideal.
The layout is composed mostly of yellow with green and a little bit of black. The band name is printed very plainly in green over the top. The concept of the layout is cool; all but one of the heads are green and all face the same way with just the black head facing the other way (obviously the black sheep). The back of the sleeve has that same black sheep in the bottom corner with a diagram of it's eyeball. The lyrics are printed in grey over the white inside of the cardboard sleeve, so obviously no need for an insert. The copy I received came on some sweet green vinyl but I'm sure there are other colors available as well.
Rating: 3.7/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Side B (Touched By Fire and Beyond Man)
Synopsis: This one is worth making the purchase (I mean shit, who knows, years from now people could be selling these on Ebay for 200 bucks), the songs are sweet, the packaging is cool. So with that said, be on the lookout for a split with I Rise on a local RI/MA label and a follow up 7" due out on Rivalry Records sometime in the summer.