Texas In July

I Am

Written by: TL on 14/09/2009 20:33:19

When last I heard music from Texas Is July, it was their "Salt Of The Earth EP" that was streaming from my players, and as some of you may recall, it made me wear my not impressed face. Maybe that's why I haven't received any records from their label Ci Records ever since? Such paranoia put aside, I got the opportunity to listen to their debut LP "I Am" anyway, and decided to repay said opportunity with a second glance at this band.

Good thing that I did, because while before, Texas In July sounded to me like an uneasy and uninspired blend of melodeath and moshcore, they now seem to have learnt what it takes to survive in the war of succession continually going on between melodic scenecore acts. It's not that they have changed much. Their guitars still switch between delivering breathtaking melodic scales and pummeling beatdowns, their drummer still works the pedals like he was in Tour De France, their singer is still largely unintelligible (he sounds like Sam Carter, of Architects, and that's in the best of his moments) and their bassist is still occasionally hard as hell to pick out from the aural assault.

However, everything just seems to flow so much more sensibly, and so much more confidently this time around. It's like there's a curve of excitement integrated in the songs now. The melodies don't merely seem to show off anymore, no, they sweep you along and make you take your air guitar on. The beat downs don't seem to be there merely to satisfy the mosh pit misfits, no, they really make you want to bang your head and put on a mean face, and thankfully, they aren't over-used as they seemed before. I guess the production could also play its part, given that one of the songs I actually like much from here is "Hook, Line And Sinner", and that was also on the EP, yet there it seemed strangely anonymous compared to here?

So yes, impressive progress has been made, however, I am still not entirely blown off my chair. I think it is fitting to think of Texas In July as a little brother band to others such as August Burns Red, Architects and All That Remains (minus clean vocals). A more simple minded version that doesn't let up on the aggression for longer than the obligatory tranquil interlude, that a record like theirs seems forced to include these days. Their record just does its thing and gives all modernly inclined metallers some rock solid stuff to both air guitar, windmill and even slam dance to - so it seems that as long as fans of either activity don't kill all the others in the pit, Texas In July should be set to appeal to a healthy amount of people right? Right! They may not revolutionize the genre just yet, but they hit its trends dead on with confidence and skill, so if you like your music full of anger, weight and blazing guitar playing, then there's no reason this baby shouldn't float your boat.

7

Download: "Hook, Line And Sinner", "Reflections"
For The Fans Of: August Burns Red, Architects, All That Remains
Listen: myspace.com/texasinjuly

Release Date 11.08.2009
Ci Records

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