These DaysBusting up out of Bay Area, California comes These Days who sound like a mix between The Hoods Death Threat, and Madball. Like so many other bands they definitely have some Terror'ish moments. In my opinion I think they sound like Donnybrook beefed up on a bit more NYHC. So far they have already released a self titled full length, a CD EP and a 7".
As I just stated these guys definitely love the east coast sound and cite bands like Buried Alive, Madball, Biohazard, Earth Crisis, Path of Resistance as influences. The songs are usually mid tempo but definitely have some sped up bursts as well and plenty of nice breaks.
This 7 song EP opens up with a 1:38 long intro that mostly uses controlled feedback and some slight use of chords to accentuate the droning the of the feedback. They then drop right into "Brother's In Arms" which is just over 2 minutes and hits you with some fast tempo riffing and plenty of stomped out mid tempo breaks. The song also features Sammy from the Ramparts contributing some guest vocals. The next song "Promise Me" is vicious as hell and starts off with an evil ass riff, accompanied with some nice lead work, they then jump into and switch off between fast paced chords and some stomped out goodness. Let me jump to track five "Hellbound" (featuring guest vocals from Andrew from On A Warpath), the song opens up with a hip hop part that sounds like it was jacked straight from Madball's "Hold It Down", from there the band hits you off with some hard hitting riffs and occasional double bass which was a pleasant surprise to my ears, the little hip hop part rears its head again before the last riff of the song.
Lyrically these guys aren't going to break down any walls or tread any new land with their concepts of betrayal, failed love, not allowing people to sway you with their views, etc., however they have really good flow to them and aren't written in some cheesy bullshit way.
For some reason when I was listening to this album the recording reminded me of Life or Death's. The guitar tone is very similar in it's type of distortion and the drop outs and little effects used, though it isn't quite as prevalent because these guys are a different style of hardcore. I really like the tone of the bass, it's right up in the mix and has a really nice full, treble tone. Very good sound on the drums, it seems to have just a slight echo which works nicely. The kick has good tone and volume, the snare has snap and pop. And the placement on the vocals is fucking nice.
This is a pretty dope layout. The front cover is a simple black and white picture of a lake scene that has some slight contrasting going on. I'm liking the color scheme of black/white and sky blue. When you fold out the booklet it displays the lyrics in a very easy to read format with the image of the white sky from the lake used as a trim around the top and bottom. The booklet then folds out into a four panel display of an awesome graffiti piece written in the sky blue (this piece also is used in the tray art).
Rating: 3.7/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Promise Me and Hellbound
Synopsis: Not new, not original, and not even close quite honestly but I'm liking this shit. It's hard and unwavering and played extremely well. The vocals really do it for me too. As you may have picked up, I really liked the recording.
Check out the band's MySpace and listen to some jammage. If you dig it, don't be a bunk bitch, buy the mother fucker!