4-way split with Over It, Midpoint and National Product,
Five Days OffNow this is an odd one...a split CD featuring four songs each from an American band, a gang of Begians and two Canadian groups, all released on a label straight outta Canada. Now usually any CD with Over It on would automatically be given all the plaudits in the world, especially when tracks like 'Worry Bomb' and 'Wrong Way' are blasting from the speakers. But the production/mastering on this record is nigh on awful and detracts from all bands on the CD. It's like the vocals were sucked out of the system and replaced with a dodgy studio version, watered down. This actually sound like a bootleg in places and really detracts from the quality of the CD.
So, major sound issues aside, what do we have? Over It, Midpoint, Five Days Off and National Product may not be household names, but they are bands worthy of your attention. Over It are up first, contributing four tracks - unsurprisingly the band really stand out, production aside. An early demo of 'Greed Factory' is a highlight, but it's nothing compared to the technical pop-punk salvo of 'Worry Bomb' and 'Wrong Way', two tracks that state why this band are so highly rated by so many. They even through in an acoustic track to show off their versatility. The bastards. Canadians Midpoint are up next and they sound more like Simple Plan - at least it's that end of the pop-punk spectrum. The vocals are a little too high for my liking, but again I think they're victims of a really bad mastering/production job than anything else. 'This Life Is Ruining My Drinking Problem' is quite a good song and I'd prefer to hear these guys again with a decent production job.
Belgians Five Days Off are rapidly building a name for themselves in Europe and their four offerings bode well for the future. They do slightly better on the sound front, although the vocals are lower in the mix than they probably should be. Still, they do better than Midpoint and sound more like Over It's technical side than the straight up poppier sound. 'Been There, Done That' is a keeper, while 'Kill The Fire' sounds a little like No Use For A Name - the drums are especially hot. If you like Vanilla Sky's European aftertouch on the vocals, this mob are well worthy of your time. National Product are the fourth and final act and again they are held up by a poor sound - the vocals really don't sit too well, sounding like they've just been plonked on the top of a badly recorded song. They also chuck some pretty cliched screams in their tracks for no reason too. The worst band here, although I may have enjoyed them more if the sound wasn't so shit. Moral of the story? The Yanks probably do the pop-punk thing best, but the Europeans aren't too far behind.
www.overitonline.com
www.fivedaysoff.com
www.midpoint.ca
www.npmusic.com
Triple Threat Records
Paul
