So once upon a time there was this band, they hadn't released a full length CD yet, but through the magic of the internet and an impressive debut EP had gained popularity throughout the United States. About a year later front man Anthony Green left the band. It was unknown at the time but Green was displeased with the direction his bandmates were taking the music and wanted to do something different . He was replaced by Cove..something..not important. And they released their second EP, titled Saosin [Ep], or as everyone called it, the Black Ep. This started one of those lame internet feuds...you know...where kids call each other names online and threaten to beat the shit out of each other knowing full well they'll never actually meet in person. Well anyways...half of the fans were pissed about the lineup change and whined about how the band was nothing without Anthony Green...the new Ep sucks... etc. etc. Loyal fans called them Green fanboys and told them to shut the fuck up. Now at the time I agreed with the latter, the Black Ep was by no means bad, I did miss the mix of Greens clean and unclean vocals, and maybe the songs were a tad less creative, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt, you know, new singer, its just 3 songs yada yada yada. I figured when their full length comes out they'll shut everyone up.
Wow was I wrong.
They completely proved all their haters right with the release of their debut LP. Like I dont even know where to begin its so bad. Okay, first off, the songs are astonishingly uncreative, they sound like copy pasted versions of each other, from the drums to the Vocals not much changes song to song. Second, it just sounds sloppy, Translating the name had such a...for lack of a better term...crisp sound to it, like the whole thing was mixed and produced with a lot of effort and attention to detail, you know, like any professionally released CD should be. The full length sounds like a rough mix in comparison, like they just got fed up with the whole process and released a half finished product. THIRD, even the old songs that they redid like "I wanna hear another fast one" (cleverly retitled sleepers) sounds WORSE than the original recording on the Black Ep. The vocals are now like a half step higher pitched and it sounds awkward, whereas the original they fit the music much much better. Its like Cove just thinks the higher pitch he sings the better he'll sound, he doesn't have to worry about things like how he sounds in relation to the music itself. After listening to that album Greens comment about not liking the direction of the band sounds more like a prophecy. He leaves and everyone else just seems to have gotten lazier. Translating the name was fairly dynamic, they experiment around a little bit with tempo changes and they keep the drumming attention grabbing on every track. Now the band is quoted in an interview as saying "Well all of our songs have the same...formula, but we change the bells and whistles." Are you serious? did you just say that you use the same song structure for every song you write? What did Green just write the music for everyone when he was in the band or did you all just get a lot lazier?
The only thing improved on the second full length is these "Bells and Whistles", basically it was just produced better.
*Sigh* Download Below to hear what I'm talking about.
1 comment:
As much as I dig this ep when I first heard it when i was 12 at the time. this shouldnt be labeld as screamo. A good post hardcore band. But not screamo. Remember emo and screamo are DIY only its never a hit on mainstream. Majority of the so called emo and screamo bands that are heard throughout the radio, tv arent really what they label themselves. you needa change your tags. Because in my "scene" days I remember I wrote haikus about cannibalism in your yearbook, Toru Okada, Saetia, Kolya, The Kossabone Red being the real definition of what emo and screamo is. Not the term that bert from the used meant. the the real one that no one or little attraction it gets. Dont get confused in what you hear on tv.
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