Sunday 11 March 2012

I Stared Into The Forest - Society Discontinued


This is the second record I've been sent by Fading Halo Records. While reading up on I Stared Into The Forest, it turns out they are from the same Romanian city as Coins As Portraits, a place called Brasov, which must have a pretty cool music scene, if it's managed to produce these two bands. I Stared Into The Forest are a metallic hardcore band and Society Discontinued is their first release.

Tracklist:-

1. Watching The World Collapse
2. Sloth Machine
3. Locked In part 1
4. Locked In part 2
5. Clean Up The Snow
6. Sore Monday


I Stared Into The Forest create really angry, blackened hardcore. It's very reminiscent of the kind of hardcore that's coming out of the UK at the moment, but it has flourishes of other influences mixed into to it as well. It has changing time signatures, fast drumming and the guitars seem to be strangely melodic.

Songs such as second track Sloth Machine seem to verge more on modern metal, with chuggy guitar, before changing direction and morphing into a heavier version of post-hardcore screamo. I'm not trying to pigeonhole them though, as it's up to you to take the music for what it is. I like the subtle melodic riffs that they through into the track, and even some dirty Pantera inspired riffs briefly appear.

The production is really good as well. The music is clear and precise, but it does have a sense of foreboding about it. This EP is definitely worthy of sitting in the higher echelons of the current hardcore crop, purely for it's quality and heaviness alone.

No songs outstay their welcome, quite the opposite actually. The EP is at the kind of length where the band let you hear just enough, but not too much, so you stay hooked and want more. It's brutal stuff, but it's played by a band with obvious skill. They don't believe that faster is heavier and as a result sound even more ferocious. The rhythm section holds it all together, commanding the tempo changes and prevents the music from staying the same for too long.

The guitarists also use different influences to weave different musical textures into the songs. It's a more modern approach that works well and helps to back their vocalist's
rabid screams.

In summary, this is a great introduction to a band that I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot of in the future. Also, hats off have to go to Fading Halo Records, for along with Coins As Portraits, providing to bands that are stylistically different but complement each other so well and proves that they are looking to create a strong a varied roster.
You can stream this record on ISITF's bandcamp page at  http://istaredintotheforest.bandcamp.com/ and you can find out more about that band at http://www.facebook.com/istaredintotheforest.

As well as this, go to the Fading Halo Records site at http://www.fadinghalorecords.com/ where you can download both this and Coins As Portrait's EP, and if you like them you can buy physical copies from the label. They also have a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/fadinghalorecords.


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