I was a little excited when this record dropped into my inbox a few weeks back, because I'd heard a lot about this band and couldn't wait to check them out properly. For those of you who don't know, Seas Will Rise are a crust influenced hardcore band from Arizona and this is their debut album. They have previously released an EP, that was splendidly called Cagematch. Disease Is Our Refrain has been co-released by Man In Decline Records and Anxiety Machine Records. Seas Will Rise also features one of the founding members of Landmine Marathon.
Tracklist:-
1. A
Sleeper’s Cell
2. In
Dust and Blood
3.
Wash Out and Rust
4.
This Teardown Town
5. To
Scratch Out a Life
6. A
Wish for the Earth
7.
Waves and Waves
8.
Eviction Notice
9.
Disease Is Our Refrain
10.
Razed
11.
Population Zero
12.
In Warmer Graves
The first thing that springs into my head as opener A
Sleeper's Cell kicks in, is how
heavy those vocals are. The music too is a great mix of fast
hardcore and sludge inspired riffage, which rears its head from time to time. There's
a great punk vibe to the music too and the songs themselves are short and too
the point, which is what you want from music like this. In Dust and Blood
screams passed in the blink of an eye, while Wash Out The Rust features a great
guitar and more of the sludgy, slower riff sections. Towards the end of the
track, Seas Will Rise just rock out, plain and simple.
This Teardown Town brings their crust influence to bear,
with some rapid fire drumming kicking things off, before the song changes to a
chuggier pace altogether.
This is rip-roaring stuff as you'd expect and should give
today's mainstream metal bands a run for their money. That's not to say its
mainstream itself though, but that it is well produced and should gain the band
loads of new fans as a result. The drumming is really good throughout the whole
record, underpinning the record with a great efficiency, while the guitars and
bass pound away creating a unique sound that adds character to the record. There
are some great dissonant riffs at play and the fact that the lyrics are audible
helps the songs leap out at the listener. A Wish For The Earth being a solid
example of this.
There's more punk inspired guitar at play during Eviction
Notice, which shows that SWR are not afraid to vary their sound or use melody. The
title track is one of the heaviest songs on the record, thanks to everything
working together in simple yet effective manner. The fact that SWR don't over-complicate their music makes it better.
Razed starts with some really unnerving, wailing feedback
and simple drumming that heralds in the song, which is instrumental for over
half of it's length, then with the help of some really clever guitar, rips your
face off. Population Zero speeds passed with more blast beats and double bass
and some nice progressive riffing.
In Warmer Graves is the last song on here and compared to
the rest, could be considered long. It’s the only song that breaches the four-minute
mark, so you know it's going to be heavy. Listening to it as it kicked in made
me want to circle around instantly, thanks to the incredible musicianship. The
songs fades away to the sound of one last guitar solo and ends with some
calming piano.
Disease Is Our Refrain is available for streaming via SWR's Bandcamp page, but I've posted it below so you can check it out here:-
You can pick up vinyl copies of this record from Man In Decline records at http://www.manindeclinerecords.com and Anxiety Machine Records at http://anxietymachinerecords.tumblr.com/.
You can pick the record up through Bandcamp and through SWR's own website at http://seaswillrise.com/ and follow the link to their BigCartel page. You can also visit them of Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seas-Will-Rise.
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