Please Take One

This is their most tolerable release to date. The production quality is actually listenable. The vocals are not as one note and sound more properly mixed compared to their previous "releases". The vocalist sounds like he is really into it and is showing some emotion. I would go as far as to say he is finally doing the songs some justice. It fits better and it actually compliments their style a whole lot more than whatever technique (or lack thereof) was shown on their other EPs. The lyrics are still kind of pointless and childish but at least they are holding back on the cockiness for a substantial bulk of the EP. They still have at least one song with that self-absorbed "WE'RE HOT ZONE BIATCH!" (Pat U Down) spewage. It would be nice if they just stopped doing that and had more humility as apposed to their oh-so arrogant "We're hot shit!" one liners. The drumming and guitars are still doing a bang up job, but there is something different... I can finally here the bassist, which was either buried in the mixes of the previous releases following rhythm, unemphasized, or not there at all.

They have two songs here with the Body Count spirit this time, that being Cannonball Mash and Pat U Down. It would appear that they are attempting to find their own sound. I would genuinely consider recommending this to someone if they desperately wanted to listen to some modern crossover thrash. That being said they are still not the most original in the bunch, their use of harmonics and the intensity of the riffs on Easier to Die are all too familiar to that of Warbringer's debut album in my opinion. They are overdoing it with the harmonics unfortunately and need to use it more sparingly for emphasis not just toss a handful of harmonics into every riff like someone who just learned how to do it. It will stand out a lot more that way. At the end of the album is an AFI cover, which to my understanding is a very popular alt rock/horror punk band at the moment. I, having never listened to AFI, do not have much to add aside from it being a energetic effort. Frankenstein & Friends riff reminds me of Fuck Yeah by Anal Cunt but that could very well be a coincidence this time though. Now that that is out of the way, Easier to Die is easily the best song on the album and the ones following it, while better than their first two releases, still don't grab my attention as a listener as much as I would hope. There is nothing particularly memorable or interesting about this band at all.

There needs to be more hooks, some much needed diversity, and substance. They keep doing the same things at times and it gets old quick, but they are getting better at how they do it I guess. Overall, I'd say the pacing is a lot better, I'll give them that much. I'll take a 15 minute EP over a 10 minute album any day, just saying. Good structure equals an album you can sit through for more than a minute. I'm glad they decided to take it easy on the simplistic, lazy, half-assed punk/crossover style songs and decided to write something that is over a minute long. They are taking a lot of steps in the right direction but there is only so much they can do as just another laughably bad crossover band. I don't see how people could support this, let alone enjoy it in any shape or form, when there are countless bands out there that do a better job.

Highlight: Easier to Die
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Originally written: 01-31-2021
Revised: 07-02-2022