I know, it's been a really long time since last review-post. Meanwhile, a new passionate writer named Chill•HC joined the team and he has contributed with not fewer that 3 reviews out of the four we're featuring here. Read on and have fun!
SETBACKS Oceans
Apart (CD)
by Chill•HC
SETBACKS
are a quintet from…all over the world. Yes, all members live in a different
continent strewing from Australia to US passing through UK and South Africa.
Although these tough circumstances would have put anybody else off the project,
despite all the odds, they managed to release their debut album "Oceans
Apart" on Morning Wood Records!
MR Records
must have bet quite a high stake to get them on their roster because the
musicians are pretty talented and the influences from the full length will
please a wide range of tastes from punk-rock to skate punk without forgetting
fast-melodic-hc.
The band comfort zone is surely settled in the latter
ultra-fast melodic hc Belvedere-Much The Same kind of sound but, in my opinion,
they are still lacking something. Nothing to worry, especially for being their
first release on the long distance. The band is super but we are not in 1999
anymore and the album suffers from a little bit of repetitiveness. 14 songs
makes a long time to go by and all songs sound the same to one another; while
the 2 above cited acts were innovative at their time and still had some
elements of heterogeneity within their songs "Oceans Apart" blends everything
into a never ending guitar shredding/scales-orientated piece of music and the
listener struggles to remember any of those. Shame because everything has been
done very meticulously (maybe too much). Definitely a band to support and to
keep an eye on because if they will start mixing tempos/grooves here-and-there
on forthcoming releases I am sure they are gonna start rocketing within the
fast-punk community.
MIRA s/t
(CD)
by Chill•HC
Mira are
cool. Period. If it wasn't for the expectations of those who need more words to
move their arses and click on a damn link I'd leave this review here, job done,
next one please. Unfortunately this is not the case so I’m gonna tell you a bit
more about'em. Mira are from Bremen (Germany) and define their playing as some
kind of 90s emo which I don’t completely agree with it...they're far more than
that. Mira mix pleasingly arranged harmonies while flicking through the shades
of some sort of post-hardcore without digging too deep into it resulting
likeable to the largest tastes. They know when to bash you into fast beats
right before things get too sludgy and also know when to slow down just before
you're about to think things are getting redundant. Guitar and bass strings are
"combed" rather than just played, hardly strummed while the drums fit
just as right. The only downside of the ep is that 3 songs is just too short.
Cd artwork
looks cool too…so what you need more, fuckers???
Check: www.facebook.com/miraisastar
ANTI HERO Snakes
& Liars (CD)
by Chill•HC
ANTI HERO
are an Italian act from Lucca. Formed in 2015 they try and manage quite well to
cut their own space amongst the, nowadays, small niche of
alternativecrossover(long gone)nu-metal. Technically prepared and with a bunch
of good ideas these guys deliver a pretty solid album. All 5 songs don’t shine
for originality but that doesn’t necessarily is a bad thing. Their crossover is
plainly influenced by Deftones (a little less) and Underoath (a little more)
but you could read a bit of Puddle Of Mud or even Incubus with growling inserts
on the lyrics here and there. The album opens with "I'm the Enemy" which is by
far my favourite song along with Saviour and the title track "Snakes and Liars".
Drums and guitar are precise and build intricate structures that any listener
of this genre wont struggle tapping along with his feet after a few minutes.
Chorus are catchy although I think they would have benefitted by some extra
voice harmonies. The only aspect I would like to point out is the over-all
experience at the end of the listening: the cd adheres to the genre without
adding anything new and the persistent mid tempo on each song might result a
little too repetitive after some time. The growl singing is cool but the singer
seems capable of far more than that with a pretty good voice and I would be
curious to hear him venturing in new territories. So well done AH, not too
shabby and test passed. Go check them out if they play anywhere near you and
support the local scene. See you on the long length debut run dudes.
QUESTIONS Pushed Out...Of Society (CD)
by marcs77
São Paulo's, Brazil's QUESTIONS play a blend of heavy metallic hardcore punk much in the vein of the likes of Agnostic Front, Madball, Terror and their new full-length, their forth, titled “PUSHED OUT...OF SOCIETY” lives up without half measures to the latest outputs of aforementioned bands. As recently stated by Madball with the title of their latest album “Hardcore Lives” and I'm proud to say it lives thanks of bold bands like Questions too.
The Paulista four-some doesn't lack of anything in terms of attitude; POSITIVE, passion, dedication and experience; certified by 15 years spent playing music, gigs and touring, musician-ship, true DIY ethics, and love for the hardcore; a life style, an outlet for expressing yourself in a society, which aims at slaving the minds of the youth and older people, and a constructive tool to endure “fight” the struggles of life, especially when living in a third-world country.
Lyrically, the follow-up of “Life Is A Fight”, deals with vital themes like intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, social pressure and human right; all themes so relevant in today's world, even here in Europe where it's worrisome the rise of far right-wing neo-fasci-nazi-st groups and political parties who are pushing their racist and xenophobic agenda and attracting consensus among the lower class and other strata.
I love all the tracks and there isn't really any fillers in this record.
They also did include a devastating cover of Sepultura classic “Troops Of Doom” that sees Iggor himself beating the shit out of the drums.
The fresh very personal visuals and graphic things related to Questions are the fruit of the great job done by vocalist Edu (talented painter/artist a.k.a. Revolback http://www.datoro.com/revolback).
Do yourselves a favour and check this record out!
Check: www.facebook.com/questionsbr
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