Absolutely flying from the traps with Friends Are Friends Forever, Close Your Eyes manage something most don’t. They deliver 6 tracks of screamo/hardcore without getting boring. The aforementioned Friends Are Friends Forever is a great slice of posi-self-help-core, and sounds like Set Your Goals playing Stretch Armstrong. Move Before Confusion Sets In has a real groove that suggests it could easily be packing dance floors at your local rock club – the guitar throughout the EP is excellent, the breakdowns aren’t forced and the heavy vocals don’t feel tacked on. The band are at their best when they really let go, especially when they liberally use Comeback Kid style gang vocals in all the right places.
The only criticism I have are the shouty bits sometimes sound like the guy’s being sick, but thankfully those moments are fairly infrequent. Near the end of Monotony Is My Middle Name, there are at least 4 vocal harmonies (plus screamy ‘harmony’) which is pretty damned unexpected and effective.
Since I picked this EP up, the band have been signed to Victory Records which is no great surprise given the quality here and every sign on this EP suggests these guys are going places.
Kieran