Chuck Schuldiner Project

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Drowning Out

     So in all of the time I've spent on this project, there's something I've never learned, when an unsigned band labels themselves as "melodic/technical death metal", it really means "metalcore". Every time I see that label, I expect Scar Symmetry or Imperium or Mirrors of Obsidian (the latter two were unsigned bands, really, really, competent unsigned bands), every time I open the link, my instant reaction is "Oh Jesus, not more of this crap." The latter reaction applies to Drowning Out, with all of its implications and more.

     So not only is Drowning Out fairly cliche metalcore material, but they're sloppy, thin, slow metalcore. It sounds like the guitarists are having more than a bit of trouble playing the riffs, which, although dreadfully slow, sound rushed like the guitarist was scrambling to hit the right fret. The vocals don't improve much on this base. I wouldn't go as far as to claim that they're "off key", complaining about a musician's vocals being off key is a pretty ignorant thing to say, considering that deliberately setting the vocals off key can be an artistic tool. The vocals just lack a consistent melody or rhythm, even in the chorus. Unless this guy was shooting to slightly tweak the tune from chorus to chorus, he's screwing it up. 

     The poor recording quality does nothing to help any of the above, frequently intensifying the illusion that playing their instruments correctly is a challenge for all of the band members. This is typically where I'd suggest some bands that sound like the band I'm reviewing, but I'm kind of clueless on this one, Drowning Out uses fairly typical principles of the -core genres, but never with enough grace to sound like any one band in particular. 

     Summary, this is a painful listen on par with most high school "screw around bands" that get together to scream about grilled cheese sandwiches and play a few open notes on a guitar. If I had to pick between this, and harsh noise, I'd go with this, so I couldn't warrant a minimum 0/10 score. Anything above a 0/10 represents some varying amount of listening value, of which the ep has none. 

Listen Here: http://www.facebook.com/Drowningout?ref=ts

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