Revengine
II EP
Tuesday 7th of July 2009
Revengine have made life difficult with this EP, which lives a life of identity turmoil.
What I like about this record is the melodic rock style of the songs. I also like the ease at which the vocal slides up and down the angry scale, bringing in the more metal side to the band. What I don't like are the out-and-out old school metal riffs and solos, which offer a jarringly stark contrast to each song.
'F(r)iend' is a charcoal-rock song with plenty of melody. There's a good build and fall throughout, thanks to some great guitar skills and all is good. Until the eighties deep-voiced spoken section, which is just far too pretentious.
Things are worse in 'Disco BS', which riffs along with a few fake-harmonics to squeal alongside. This really undermines the one good thing about this song; the momentary melodic chorus.
This whole EP is rather demonstrative of a band with an identity crisis. Someone likes a hooky rock song, and someone prefers metal and the songs clash between the two worlds without fusing them together. It's sad, because each song has some really good moments.
Author: Steve
Label: Self-Released
Found in: Record Reviews
Official Rating
We rated this record 2 out of 5.