Review Summary: How do you reach the end? *guitar solo*
Selfish from Finland came blazing out of the gate back in 2002 with their first full length release ‘Burning Sensation.’ This record showcases Selfish embracing the Japanese Burning Spirits sound pioneered by the bands Bastard, Death Side, and Gauze. Burning Spirits, for those unaware, is a mixture of straight forward hardcore punk or d-beat and more traditional NWOBHM. Death Side excelled at this having remarkably fast songs with Iron Maiden influenced guitar solos and leads all over the place. Selfish follows in Death Side’s footsteps so much so that I originally thought they were from Japan. The vocalist of Selfish sounds almost identical to Ishiya of Death Side.
At just ten songs under twenty-six minutes this record blasts by. Selfish are at the top of their game when they’re playing at the fastest speed possible. Wild Things, track number nine, features “epic” guitar solos and leads while the drums are galloping away. The last minute of this song features a very melodic section with a solo fading out. The title track has a very rocking tempo again with solos being thrown all over the place.
This record contains an overabundance of melodic sections that seemingly come out of nowhere and feel forced. Matter Of Trust is a massive offender for this reason. The melodic sections come out of nowhere and don’t make sense in the overall structure of the song. They could have kept this cut down to a minute and a half of pure mayhem, but the melody brings down what could have been a potential favorite of the record.
The critique of too much melody in Burning Spirits is something a lot of bands in the genre flirt with. Death Side and Bastard had immense success from this, Selfish succeeds at times and fails at times. A good point of comparison could also be Tragedy, another crust band that had tons of melodic elements that didn’t interfere or detract from the enjoyment of their recordings.
There’s nothing to lose from checking this record out. Year Of The Underdog is a personal favorite. If you enjoy that track, then by all means this record will be up your alley. There’s a lot of positives to take away, it’s just gripe of mine to over-incorporate melody into this style of hardcore punk.
