Review Summary: Songs to whine at the sun
In 1985, Black Flag shocked the world (not really) and released the strangest punk EP to be bequeathed unto us all. "The Process of Weeding Out" was an oddity within an oddity. Jazz fusion meets free jazz meets avant garde snottiness. The EP was void of all vocals by mainman, pots and pans, Henry Rollins. In my humble yet appreciated opinion, "The Process of Weeding Out" was Black Flag's best work. The culmination of complete ***-you-I-do-what-I-want attitude about music, and a searingly technical mastering of their instruments. I'd like to believe that was the moment punk and hardcore changed. By that time, most of the "shaved my head and always shirtless" bands were pumping out music of a different vein. Bad Brains went metal, Black Flag went jazz, and Ian MacKaye took his straight edge to the post-punk beauty of Fugazi. In the 20-something years since than, hardcore and punk have undergone more changes than most other genres of music, and what we have today is far from what was in 1980. The willingness to experiment and create a stranger sound is not rare at all. It's almost the norm.
Sianvar is a supergroup of sorts. Comprised of various members of various bands who love to push the envelope (Dance Gavin Dance, A Lot Like Birds, Hail The Sun, and Stolas), you'd expect there to be some sort of melding of various ideas. Since this is the only release so far, it's hard to compare it to anything. There's no real back catalogue to go off of, and to go and compare it to their respective bands would be futile. The point of creating a supergroup/side project to do something a little different than what you're doing in your main one. It's like buying a 400 pound, 6 foot tall prostitute if you're already in a relationship with an 100 pound, 4 foot nothing woman. It's a release valve for creative ideas you can't do with your main squeeze, or your band.
Musically, the closest comparison would be
Protest the Hero, especially when they go a little softer, or
Every Time I Die, lacking some of the ballsiness and heaviness. The most striking thing is the vocals. The vocal delivery is probably best suited for a band who appeals to 14 year old girls, and that is not what Stolas is. Donovan Melero is not Oli Sykes, nor does he really come off as that on this EP. But he kind of does. His vocal delivery is noticeably less harsh and aggressive than it is with
Stolas, and it doesn't really lend well to the fact the instrumentation sounds silly at times. Yes. I used the word silly. There were points I honestly laughed. Not because the music was comedically bad or anything. It just sounded silly. Light and sweet, with just a weird humor to it. "Virtual Vain" sounds like
Primus meets
Have Heart, if they suddenly lightened the mood. The guitar work from Will Swan, of
Dance Gavin Dance, is technically there, but when you have such technical proficiency there's no real heart to it. No emotion. It sounds like tweedly-twee guitar riffs for the sake of Guitar Center show-offs. The lighter tracks, such as "Substance Sequence" is his best work, guitar wise. There's a sense of urgency to pull back the technicality, and these monster chords he enancts are a great landscape to the track's humongous feeling. The drumming is your typical post-hardcore style, which is to be expected from Michael Littlefield, who plays in
A Lot Like Birds, a well respected post-hardcore band from California. There's some odd time signatures, and some not so technical moments. It lends well, as this music is meant to be drum and vocal driven. Finally and, oddly, the bass is quite audible, and is handled by Joseph Arrington, also of
A Lot Like Birds. Arrington is a very talented bass player, and the decision to let his bass be high up in the mix was a great one. There's a real technicality to his playing, but it doesn't come off as "Look what I can do, Ma!" as Will Swan's.
"Sianvar" is hard to label. I'd love to slap a post-hardcore stamp on it and send it to the next available teller, but there's just something there that pulls it back into a different territory. Post rock territory. Maybe even metalcore. There's just something about the vocals that rubbed me the wrong way. I like Melero in
Stolas, but on this EP he sounds like he, for lack of a better term, sold out or is in the process of selling out. There's just a heavy weakness to his delivery, and a real sense of hesitance to let loose. "Sick Machine", while melodically appeasing, sounds like
Every Time I Die with a less ballsy vocalist.
There's no real way around it. This EP would've been stellar, maybe even a rating of 5 material, if the vocals weren't so abhorrently wimpy sounding. Hopefully on the full length, if there is a full length, they fix this issue. All these guys are extremely talented, and well versed in their respective genres of post hardcore, and post rock, and other things. Maybe they should've pulled a Black Flag and recorded this sans vocals. It would have been much better. The vocals need to change, or this project is doomed to fail. Or they can just get Keith Morris....
