Neck Of The Woods-Self Titled ep

Members: Dave Carr - Guitar Travis Hein - Guitar Jeff Radomsky - Vocals Jason Puder - Bass Jeff Brown - Drums

Genre: Progressive Metal/Hardcore

Hometown: Vancouver Canada

In what seems like a peaceful twilight of either early evening or maybe late morning. A sneaky fog descends down a hill. The house in the forefront of the picture is seemingly abandoned. It's almost like an invasion of something creepy flowing onto something in a pointless way. But maybe something is really there, something that one should not fuck with. The land looks mostly empty, and the grass has the late summer burned look to it, very little green. A very used and dated look, as i maybe the life has disappeared from what you see before you, but again, something creeps along in the background reaching towards the foreground, but what?

Track 1. Disavow- A creepy atmospheric effect fades into the scene. But then it gives way to a tasteful, yet prancing clean guitar. The bass has a chilling affect. The drums have distant yet crisp echo within the mix. The groove of the song is slow and spaced out. The winding melodies that mix, give the song a very dark and delicious feel. A subtle, sick and heavy chunk of distortion, leads a distant yet biting lead guitar in the the frame. It screams of epic proportions. The heavy crunch sways itself into existence. A pounding, grabs you quickly, and the speed rushes in with its cascading riffs of METAL Screams of sweet roaring vocals consume you, the conveyance takes you over, making you just want to head bang, with devils horns thrusting around in mite. The eclectic groove and off sounding riffs mix very well with the brutal vocal melodies here. The drums pound along with sheer force. The groove gets aggressive as the double bass jumps into peaks and valleys in the mix. Squeals of the guitar add an extra extreme element of the song, as do the syncopated palm mutes. Loving the extra cymbals crashing in the back of the mix. Great alternating heavy riffs here, and then the song dies does, into something clean, yet something very cool scary and fucked up. Loving that echoing yet crisp snare. And then it all explodes again into instant punishing galloping METAL. All the while intense vocals spray their essence about in a proper melody yet brutal manner. EPIC lead solo here. Very good balance in the studio mix. More good alternating riffs, and the song ends upon one last drawn out aggressive riff.

Track 2. Left Behind- Sweet heavy melodic riffs open this beast wide open. The brutal vocals make their presence quickly known and he reaches a second level that is quite menacing. I can't tell what he's saying but I do like the conveyance of the singing, gut tearing passion. Extremely bad ass. Melodies that you can barely wrap your mind around, very intense mechanisms here, it becomes very aggressive, but then calms down for a moment, only to trick you. IT grabs you by the ears, for an utter assault. An interesting and eclectic syncopation of heavy driving metal. A dose of sick melodies. You want to grab the closest drum stick to kick it on with the drums, moving along to the crisp beat, or find the closest air guitar to try and match the massively impressive yet noteworthy heavy melodic riffs, nothing stays the same or gets boring they mix it up, enough to break your neck lol, at least ten times in the song.

Track 3. Trap Door- A very weird beat, and a clean melody quickly begins the absolute mayhem here. Very crisp yet tasteful riffs. Thorough melodic METAL, chug after sick chug, drives this madness home. The same great sick fucking vocals. Digging the awkward written riffs here, seems to be a bit of Neck Of The Woods thing. They continue to hammer away with interesting tight beats, but they change the syncopation up, to keep you drawn close to the song. A good grinding piece its quite aggressive. Well placed sick fucking lead licks. Just wish the song would been long thoroughly interesting material here.

Track 4. I know Where I'll Bury You-Instant headbanging... is all I really need to say here. Not only are you quickly pulled in with the fine syncopation, but the sick lead is placed very perfectly within the mix. Foreboding full track with consuming guitars. They could swallow whole and paint the skies black. Filling your own soul on into the night with hate, pain, and saturation of pure blackened treading depth. Aggressive, no frills. Complete utter show of mistake free heaviness. A part of this quiets down for a few moments and shows its cleaner subtle and melodic side. The roaring conveying vocals do their usual awesome mind blowing damage. More aggressive chugging riffs, hit a higher point in the, and then they alternate with something lower. The entire time the double bass pedal, lifts off tightly like a crazed yet wildly cool helicopter on crack.

Track 5. Torch- I feel sorry for whomever this is aimed towards, more mind blowing, brutal heaviness, interesting and intriguing in your FACE material. Aggressive and chugging when it needs to be, but throwing in melodic riffs at light speed seemingly in just behind the galloping chugs. And then there is a complete alternation back to the sicker awkard riffs. They change things up very well. Hard hitting, a thorough taste of hell. A low to the ground rumble that beckons the dogs of the dead. It consumes, you can almost see the fumes coming out of the singers head. And unfortunately it ends a bit too soon, another great set of material here, just wish that it was much longer. Really enjoying every piece here, through sweet yet crazy fucking madness.

Track 6. Two Smokes- A slow melodic yet heavy balls to the wall lead riff, with a menacing partner start this piece. A bass guitar is felt and heard trudging deeply and with soul into the middle of the mix. Drums are very tight, powerful and hard hitting. The music itself is more of the same, awesome, dynamic, and thorough. Very technical and crisp. Some of the edges of the riffs are sharp, some extremely melodic and insane with tight throat slashing squeals. The riffs alternate at an interesting interval. It's a soul stealing flavor. A heart choking resonance. A chance to hide becomes a time to feed upon the fear. The drums consume the track as does the echoing clean guitar and the simple yet sick minded bass with its deep wet presence. A soulful lead solo, marches into the fray becoming more in control, leading the track back to its madness. And then a flavor, though subtle of said madness, slowly, yet with mite. Announces itself with slow drawn out heavy riffs. The familiar yet heavy roar of these menacing vocals lead this charge into hell. a syncopation that would make you pull your eyes from your temple in appreciation of what you can hear, with your very own ears. An all out onslaught begins, the drums take it to an all time level, speed thrash, and tighter than ever with a sick lead lick. And then it counts off a few measures, with the song taking yet another sick and cruel, but awesome and melodic turn, it's completely gone into a fucked up beyond all reality Metal that just never makes you doubt its presence, it's will or mighty thrust, which is a complete and utter show of INVINCIBLE FORCE. Sick dual melodic guitars., the song and the album end upon on last bang of the drums in a crisp timely fashion. And one last note, that is dual melodic, in a harmonic sense, tasty dark, and fucked up all at once.

It's been quite a pleasure to listen to this music. it's been thoroughly aggressive, with impressive alternating riffs, different styles of melodic riffs, some sounding flat, some sounding sharp. A nice touch with the pronounced bass guitar in the mix, EXCELLENT touch in fact there. Clean, heavy, and crazy when it needs and KNOWS to be. A massively impressive mix. Well balanced through out all tracks on this album, whomever mixed and master this, did a damn good job! They did not miss anything, Some of the best metal I've ever heard. Love how they change things up as well, between heavy/ distorted parts and cleaner melodic parts. Overall Rating. 10/10. Just wish this would have been longer. I'll definitely keep my eyes on this band in the future, already can't wait til their NEXT album. Thanks again guys, and I wish you the best! There's a sheer taste of perfect brutal metal here, just wish there was more lol to listen to!!!