I’m really in 2 minds about this album. While I was reasonably impressed by their début release because it turned out to be a hell of lot heavier than I thought it would be. This album is a stripped down acoustic version of most of the tracks on the aforementioned début, but without the kick in the nuts.
The Camden based quartet comprises of vocalist Tony Vega, guitarist Danny Ruiz, drummer Ozzy Preciado, and bassist Luis Lopez.
The album opens with “Time” but only about half of the song that’s on “Sputter The Worms” as it funnily enough left out the predominantly acoustic intro and the amazing bass bridge that made the 7 minute version worth listening to.
Tony’s voice has a bit of a gruff edge on “Pulse” which is far more noticeable with the guitars being as subdued as they are here, whereas on “Dispose Of Heartaches” the strumming is far more deliberate to get the guitars buzzing to match the slightly heavier drumming.
The rumbling backdrop of the acoustic bass in “Die My Saint” lifts the guitar as its light pinging for the lead carries it into “Stained Soul” where the guitar sounds just as light hearted even though the nearly shouted vocals carry a bit more weight.
The rather forlorn “Forsaken” is haunting in its beauty and simplicity, the drums keep time without any pounding and the vocals are deeper and more resonant with emotion.
There’s a bit of a Latin guitar feel to “Insanity” that I can picture people clapping along to before joining in on the chorus.
The tribal drumming on “Magledonia” works exceptionally well with the guitars and could quite easily be played around a roaring camp fire.
The bonus track “Bummer” is the band back doing what they do best, in my opinion, with high paced drumming and distorted guitars that suit the angry vocals that much better.
So, like I said, I’m still not sure how much I like this. Sure it’s nice to have a completely different perspective on the songs, but I far prefer the heavier versions. Perhaps they may work really well live to make a candlelit gig feel more intimate, but hey ho.
(6/10 Marco Gaminara)
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