VerdictThese guys are a little known vegan, straight edge band from Moscow, Russia and fuck do they know how to play some quality metallic hardcore! This is the bands follow up to their 2007 demo and their first attempt at a full length.
The first time I listened to this it reminded me of a Russian Shockwave, minus the Transformers based lyrics and samples. You could also easily compare them to Morning Again but they aren't quite as metal but they do have the sometimes talked vocals much like some of Morning Again's material.
On their Myspace the band lists the 90's as their influence and while that's a bit vague it completely encapsulates the sound of the band. They took many of the best elements of the 90's metallic hardcore sound and molded them into their own distinct sound complete with vicious fucking leads and awesome bursts of melody throughout the CD. This is one of those albums where it sounds familiar but unique and different. I would also say the vocals have a lot to do with that. Perhaps it is because of the differences in language but even if the vocalist was singing in English he would still have a voice that would stand out from most.
The ten tracks on this CD are absolutely killer with no filler whatsoever. Even the tenth song, "War of One" which is a cover of Skygrain. fits in nicely with the rest of the songs, though the recording is considerably rawer than the other 9. Most of the songs are over three minutes long but they never get stale due the ability of these guys to transition so well from part to part. A lot of metallic bands like these guys fall flat on their face when they try to transition out of a breakdown into the next verse or chorus but these guys do it effortlessly and make it sound fucking good. For instance in the song "Time Pressure" the band goes from a crunchy intro into an awesome melodic part that reminded me a bit of Preacher Gone To Texas and at the end of the song they used another awesome melodic part with a completely unexpected layer of piano. And the leads that the guitarist injects throughout the songs are fucking spot on!
Real dope artwork on the front cover for this one and a well done layout throughout the four panels of the booklet. Also the production quality on this is really, really fucking good. The bass and guitar tones work well with one another and everything has a proper place in the mix.
Rating: 4/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: "Degression," "Time Pressure" & "Prayer In Vain"
Synopsis: This is one of the best new metallic hardcore bands I have encountered recently thanks to Eric from HC4Ever Distro and Jay who runs Vindictive Nature Distro. I would highly recommend tracking down this CD if you can, ESPECIALLY if you like bands like Morning Again and Shockwave.
I hear the band is in the studio recording a follow up full length which Jay should have in his distro when it comes out, so keep an eye out. Also, I noticed in the booklet that these guys only had one guitarist which surprised me because much of album has a lead going over top the rhythm guitar so I hope these guys are able to find another quality guitarist so they can pull this stuff off live.
Verdict MySpace
Self X True Records Website (Buy this shit!)