Slow Bloom

This band from Santa Rosa is going to have a hard time convincing me they are not just a punk band after the opening track of their new ep. Sure they have samples to bring to the party, but how much of the rowdy ranting does that change? They have a great deal of energy, but tend to hover around a very Refused like marching. Some times they also remind me of a less prog minded At the Drive In, as the carry the same explosive frenetic impulses. There are some darker undertones to "Final Heaven". The only draw back is the yelled vocals get a little old by the third song and start to make everything sound the same.They stomp around at more of a mid pace, and go into a sing song chant, but it really doesn't stand out much from the previous song. So while they have their own sound it would pay off to have some more diverse and dynamic textures within that.


 "Phantom Tantrum" bleeds into the same tantrum they have been having for the majority of the album, it is not until "Obscura Vision" that things switch up a little and the At the Drive In influence really comes at you full steam. The last song get a half shade more melodic, but stays pretty close to the one trick they have perfected .  To have been recorded live in their practice space the sound is pretty impressive. I'll give this one a a 6 since I used to really be into At- the Drive In, so I can see how kids who were not around for that might be impressed, they are good at what they do this album just didn't score higher , because I need my music to generally do more than this. How ever theya t least deserve props for doing this.