Eaglehaslanded - Eaglehaslanded

01. Leaving The Church In Ashes
02. Diablero
03. White City Lies
04. Raul And Julia (Lizards And Queens)
05. College Girl

Hailing from Belgrade, Serbia this three piece screamo/punk outfit have put together a really solid five track EP. Sonically it's very raw, but also very tight. For a band this heavy it's a refreshing approach to what is usually either an utterly shit DIY recording or over produced and lifeless. This sounds really good for a change. The songs are short, the whole affair is over in like 11 minutes but they fit a lot into these brief tracks and it's a pretty damn cool EP to listen to with headphones. Musically it's generally pretty fast with blasts and double time right up front. If you dig the abrasive/intense Alpinist/Jungbluth then you'll get this. Guitars are pretty thick and big in the mix which is sweet especially when the palm muting 'chug chug' moments lock in. They make good use of dischordant chords and riffs combined with the screams and yells you'd expect. The bass is quite big too, often easily distinguishable beneath it all which is quite a rare thing in this genre! The opener 'Leaving The Church In Ashes' serves well as an indicator of what to expect across the 5 tracks. It starts with a clean guitar picking a creepy chord behind this eery voice repeatedly saying 'warriors, come out to play'... just freaks me the hell out. Then bass and drums burst in all punk'rock-like for about 4 bars, then it's an all out explosion of guitars, blast beats and screams. It's hard not to smile at this point. Seriously! Highlight of the EP is the third track 'White City Lies' which is one of the longer (2-1/2 minutes) and more melodic tracks, it has a slower pace than the rest but with this also comes a bit more space, a sense of maturity and vocally carries quite a bit more feeling that just the usually passionate screams. Overall this is highly worth checking out for a really clever and unpredictable take on the screamo/punk/crust thing and try not to smile in that first song... it's a killer!

Reviewed by Sean.

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