Selah

Selah EP

Written by: TL on 16/03/2010 00:10:19

It had to happen. Eventually, even Denmark had to father a Christian hardcore band. Am I the only one to find it ironic that they are from the mid-western part of the country? Possibly, but I want to try to avoid making more jokes about the stereotype making landfall in my homeland - hard as it may be - and try to stay focused on the band, Selah, and their self-titled début EP. Truth be told, it's been hiding in the bottom of my pile for no good reason for far too long, but now I've finally found the time to put it under the microscope, to try and uncover the truth of it.

And the truth of it is, to give this all away right away, that Selah aren't actually very good, at least not yet. Their trade is in a very predictable and very simplified brand of post-hardcore that almost sounds too much like it was inspired by the likes of Confide and similar christcore outfits. To say that it is slower and simpler is an understatement, and while the vocalist has learned to scream and growl alright, it's only barely, and as I tend to rant about, getting started with harsh vocals is sooo easy and common these days, that any bands need to either be picky when they choose a guy to do it, or they need to demand of him that he puts as much effort into working up some impressive pipes, as a normal singer would put into training his performance. Not that the frontman here let's the instruments down though, since it all sounds painstakingly low-key I'm afraid.

So no, I'm not liking Selah a whole lot, but while some might accuse me of simple christ-bashing, that actually has nothing to do with it. I don't mind the band declaring their faith if they feel like it, but I do mind the fact that they already seem to be ticking every stereotype-box on their myspace (their singer is one v-neck short of being exactly the scenester I linked above) before they have more than these, less than a handful of stumbling, demo-ish recordings to their name. There is one good part on here that I like, and that the melody that opens third track "Where Is Your Victory". The rest just drifts by without leaving any impression beyond "Holy shit, I know about seven guitar chords, and still this sounds like stuff I could play".

All in all, I'm not recommending Selah yet. They need to impress me more with their music, and they need to prove that they're more than a small-town copy of an already annoying American stereotype. For now unfortunately, their debut has the words "too soon" written all over it.

4

Download: Where Is Your Victory
For The Fans Of: Confide; Oh, Sleeper; UnderOATH
Listen: myspace.com/selah

Release Date 02.10.2009
**UNSIGNED BAND**

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.