Catalyst / Calm Murder

Two Sides Of The Suicide King (2005)

Erin_Jackson

This side of the split CD begins with "Kiss You Goodbye" and all of the overblown metal theatrics you might expect. Heavy percussion and predictable guitar follows for the next two tracks on "Your Death" and "Same Shit Everyday." The final song, "This Heart Won't Heal On Its Own," has a petulant tone and the plodding guitar drags the track to its conclusion at a pace that feels like pulling teeth. The poor construction and overwrought vocals make these tracks unable to stand up to repeated listening, making this side of the CD one that expires quickly.

It's probably a bad thing when supposed hardcore/metalcore makes you giggle. That was the case with track 6, "This Is No Horror Movie And You're No Scream Queen." Vocalist Shaun Whitehead effects such an overdone, screamed track that he sounds like a dog with laryngitis. Also, on the fifth track, "These Hearts Don't Have Names," the combination of spoken-word and screamed lyrics results in a conversation that goes something like this: "the hearts all say / arrghghh rrrhgh / they know your secrets / rhh hu s hhh rrrgh." Coupled with the intense delivery, the result is amusing, which totally took me out of the mood I'm guessing the band was going for. Vocal delivery that plays with the percussion and the spoken elements on this side of the split CD aren't enough to save it from being typical screamcore. By the time you get to the last track, you'll have sufficiently "got the point," which is, as stated by Shaun, "ruuushhggg."

Overall, it's forgettable and unnecessary. Halfway-there hardcore that falls a measure short.