01. Far From Okay
02. Torrence
03. Poor Image
04. Untitled
05. Bye Bye Blackbird
Not Ok.'s debut - 'S/T', self/titled, 'Not Ok.' - one or the other, but knowing DIY-style probably the latter of those two(!) - is a crunchy slice of delicious hardcore/ screamo/etc., dripping with variety, from Metro-Detroit. Variety is vital to their guitar parts in particular: Not Ok. are happily willing to slide over the spectrum of punk, moving from soft guitar melodies in post-rock influenced screamo (beginning of 'Untitled'), to chaotic, crawling, noisy (dis)harmonious playing at the end of 'Bye Bye Blackbird', and then even to the cohesive, bone-shattering riffs in 'Torrence', which could happily pass for sludge metal. Do, also, pay attention to the drumming: it's varied and clever and consistently fantastic. Not Ok. tend towards long, fully-formed beasts rather than curt, snappy hardcore: this, however, does weigh down the latter half of the album down a tad. A minor fault, however - this is an impressive debut, shows great willingness to expand, play with ideas.
Reviewed by Beth.
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hey, please could you renew this zippy link? would be sooo great! thx and keep going on with this blog!
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