Maker

I-91 EP

Written by: PP on 02/08/2010 22:15:01

So I guess The Simpsons formed a melodic hardcore band? Lame jokes aside, Maker originate from Springfield, Massachusetts, and they've just put out a new four track EP called "I-91". I figured to keep the intro straight to the point just like the record, considering it's barely ten minutes long overall. "I-91" demonstrates a band playing extremely rough - some might even say amateurish - melodic hardcore where better (any?) production is gravely needed to rescue the otherwise decent clean vocalist from underneath the overpowered guitars.

Tribute is being paid to Lifetime, but also to bands like Set Your Goals and The Movielife in the process. The vocals are deeply rooted in pop punk, whilst the rest of the music is by-the-books melodic hardcore: d-beat, fiery guitars with buzzing distortion, and melodic bridges to connect everything together. There are moments where the pop-hardcore of bands like With The Punches and Set Your Goals briefly appears, but mostly it's just pedal-to-the-floor 'Lifetime punk rock' just without the flair and the sense for explosive chorus. The first two tracks are over so fast you barely even notice, and while that's fair and square in the genre, they lack any strong points that'd make the songs memorable in any way.

Final track "Stand By Me" is nearly four-and-a-half minutes long, thus covering nearly half of the EP's duration at once, and it certainly isn't hiding its The Movielife influence. Fact is, I've heard this song in various forms so many times before on "This Time Next Year" that it's impossible not to notice the obvious similarity. All things said, however, it's not entirely terrible. If you eat, drink and breathe melodic hardcore like this scribe, "I-91" still contains the right amount of energy and kick ass melody to get you going. Others, return to the classics instead.

Download: Calendars
For the fans of: Lifetime, The Movielife, Set Your Goals
Listen: Myspace

Release date 25.05.2010
Animal Style Records / Either Or Records

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