At first Romans’ name had me fearing yet another Botch rip-off. But while math meters and spiraling dissonance are present, the band’s sound also spans melodic post-hardcore and atmospheric metal. The caustic riffs here contrast nicely with dreamy, wide-eyed textures. Romans would be equally at home on Blackmarket Activities, Hydra Head, and Crucial Blast (labels, take note!). In fact, some of the reverbed, Americana-ish tones recall Crucial Blast band Souvenir’s Young America.
All Those WristsCarve Up and Give Away
All Those Wrists (self-released, 2007) is this Burlington, VT band’s DIY debut. At under 24 minutes, it’s more of an EP than a full-length. Brevity is a virtue, though, and leaving me wanting more is a good thing. The track sequencing is incredibly seamless. In fact, the band chopped up passages into separate tracks when it could easily have left them together and called them one track. Thus, this release feels like it has fewer than its 12 tracks. The recording is crisp and punchy, with gnawing guitars and round bass tones.
My only complaint with this disc is that it’s too short. I’ve listened to it many times, and it hasn’t lost any luster. Those of you who dug that Aussitôt Mort I posted a few days ago should check this out. To pick up this disc, contact the band via its MySpace.
Very impressive for DIY debut, but doesn’t knock my socks off like Aussitot yet. Again, really appreciate your work, great suggestions!
Hey, just a minor MP3 comment, so appreciative of these sample mp3s u post for us readers to enjoy, thanks to them i’ve recently made purchases of a number of albums u’ve mentioned, personal favourite of the moment is Ashdautus and Grima Morstua. Please keep posting, big fan! slight wondering tho, i’m a rather anal music fan who enjoys to catalogue his iTunes library til the cows come home, you cudnt post the mp3s with their track number on them cud u? just a minor request, if not, its really not important.
No problem, Sandy. I’ll also start including the album title in MP3 tags. If you use Windows, I recommend a freeware app called Audioshell for editing MP3 tags. Thanks for reading!
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Just read your Xasthur review. Fantastic piece.