Prize The Doubt

Prize The Doubt EP

Written by: TL on 06/10/2010 16:08:51

Another record that has not exactly been feeling my love lately, but which I owe a review nonetheless, is the self-titled début EP of Ohio-based screamo three-piece Prize The Doubt. Don't worry, I have not started hating all music, good reviews are in the pipes, however, PTD are slightly handicapped when it comes to winning my affection. Why? Simple, they've been a band for less than a year, this is their first ever release, and being a brand new three-piece, they are quite limited in what they have to work with soundwise.

What they've put together however, is a six track EP of bleak screamo alá what you might have heard in the early days of the Swedish screamo scene (think early Intohimo or herbrightskies) or what From Autumn To Ashes would have sounded like if their recordings had been waaaay low-fi. Being limited to only the three traditional three-piece instruments, you probably don't need me to supply you with any adjectives at all, to be able to imagine what a band aimed at rough, melancholic post-hardcore sounds like.

However, while PTD EP is at first a relatively predictable product of its circumstances, the band does manage to pull a few bunnies out of their hats as it moves on. After the first two tracks, "We Are Too Separate" and "Daily News Is Dead" feature a couple of creative rhythmical moments that wakes up any listener who was otherwise sleepily letting the record pass by largely unnoticed (who? me?). "The Purity Of Conformity" does even better though, pretty much abandoning the screamo notion, and instead producing a sound that is not unlike the one The Get Up Kids built their fame around back in their prime. The closing "October 17th" also hints of having something going on in its early stages, but by staying instrumental throughout, it remains in the category of "experiment" rather than ascending to that of "highlight".

Overall, I'd say this is a pretty normal type of début EP, featuring a band trying to establish a sound and testing it's capabilities for being taken in different direction. For what it's worth, I'd definitely focus on the direction taken on "The Purity Of Conformity" if I was in the band, simply because in my opinion, the world has enough of both screamo and -core bands that aren't going anywhere. With restraint, experience and pursuit of the 90's throwback sound, the worst thing that can happen is that PTD move on to produce records that many will find at least casually enjoyable, and who knows, if we dream big, maybe we could have another Sunny Day Real Estate-type band amazing us in the new millennium.

6

Download: The Purity Of Conformity, We Are Too Separate, Daily News Is Dead
For The Fans Of: From Autumn To Ashes gone low-fi, Swedish screamo in its earliest days, at least one track alá The Get Up Kids
Listen: myspace.com/prizethedoubt

Release Date July 2010
**UNSIGNED BAND**

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