Equal Vision Records Label Sampler – Review

Equal Vision Records Label Sampler

(Equal Vision)
by Tim Den

It’s eerie how the best songs on here are from bands long since broken up. The sultriness of Project Kate, evil buzz of 108, Quicksandic melodies of Shift (whose extremely cute female drummer fills-in for Mötley Crüe nowadays), manic pop of Serpico, delicate musings of Copper, strangeness of Prema… certainly are missed and not made up for by the label’s present day signees. Long-running noisecore addicts Converge still sound as messy and uncreative as ever, and metalcore mediocrities One King Down aren’t making things better. There is hope in newcomers The Stryder, but will they be able to lift the drooling mindlessness of “emopunk,” as set on the public by labelmates Saves The Day, single-handedly? They’re certainly not going to get help from half-assed Man Will Surrender, whose pseudo-melodies were never good – not on Equal Vision or during their brief tenure on some major (some poor A&R guy got fired for that one, I’ll bet). You can kick and scream and list the Snapcase split and Refused‘s Everlasting as plus points, but come on, they don’t count. These bands were signed to other labels and only licensed material to Equal Vision. Has it really come down to this? Can the glory be brought back? Not if Serpico remains dead… More: Bane, Trial, Ten Yard Fight, H2O, Hands Tied, Another Victim, Floorpunch.
(PO Box 14 Hudson, NY 12534)