| Sever Your Ties, from the booming music scene of southern California, really knew how to announce themselves to the world. With the release of Safety in the Sea, which is their debut album on Solid State Records as well as their first full length effort as a band, Sever Your Ties established themselves as a premier melodic hardcore act, but did they do so in a scene that’s already overpopulated with cookie cutter Underoath Juniors?
Sure, there is a lot to be said about the fact that every time you turn around, another sing/scream, melody heavy hardcore band pops up. There’s also something to be said about a band who can take that sound in a different direction. Their guitarist Mike Didia said, “We’re trying to bring a rock n roll aspect to the heavy music scene. We want kids to have a good time and party, we’re not trying to be a too tough for our own good hardcore band.” Sever Your Ties, through the use of keyboards and fuzzy rock guitar riffs, have pushed further away from the standard formula of brutal, brutal, metal riff, breakdown, awkward singing part, brutal, to more of a sound of hardcore infused rock instead of the other way around, which is refreshing.
There are a lot of pluses with Sever Your Ties, the guitar work is tasteful, with perfectly crafted melodies strung together creating each individual song, the vocals are great for sing alongs, and the songs are infectious. The songs have a feeling of high intensity without being in your face. All in all it is a well written record, but it would have had a better production quality, as the album sounds fairly hollow. An album void of low end sound doesn’t have anything to anchor it. All in all though, not much to complain about, it’s a good album.
~ Matt
September 07 2008 |
