5 People melt hardcore and metalcore ideals together and paint them with an overcoat of nu metal and fragile emotion on this release. Callused and heavy it chugs along at a medium pace with vicious verbal advances mangling the listeners senses, and angst driven power, but just when the listener starts to write the band off as another pissed off metal band, the rough and tough image seemingly shatters as the music does a 180, bursting out with rays of harmony and soft spoken vocals. Comparable perhaps to Vision Of Disorder mixed with a bit of emocore and a dash of rigid auditory battering ala Slipknot, there's a vicious snarl to the CD, but its seemingly more traditional metal influence keeps it from being a clone of the groups mentioned. Vocally agitated, the menacing anger portrayed punishes the listener with relentless guttural growls and harsh hardcore styled vocals that stumble out from time to time in a semi rappish manner. This alone could be good enough for the band to create a satisfying record, but the inclusion of the reserved more melodic tones and vocals that aren't innocent enough to take away from the overall heaviness of the band, go great strides to jack up the intensity even more. Guitars scrape with distorted claw like riffs that follow a traditional structure that is complimented with a sonic smear of experimental sounds and outlandish squeaks coated with effects. A bit lost in the mix and not as heavy sounding as they could be, they still have enough flair to accomplish the task at hand. Bass is quite steady throughout the discs 5 tracks charging the songs ahead with constant metalish basslines that rumble on with a deep tuning. It almost seems as though it takes on the role of a typical guitar, making it quite interesting to hear how the bands tendency to reverse role's instrumentally plays out. Drums are thunderous with barrages of double kick along with a brisk snare tuning that snaps firmly with each hit. The fiery rapid fire bursts of double kick that punch through the speakers when listening to this CD go a long way to making the music all the more violent and give the band the necessary crunch and aggression to allow them to stand on their own. As familiar as the groups music may look on paper, they have one card up their sleeve that sets them apart from what could be a meandering unoriginal journey, and that card is the ability to write epic song structures and insert unexpected changes and breakdowns in the music that can startle the listener with their contrasting dynamic elements. Even though this EP is quite impressive, some growing pains are still hindering the band and they are a bit noticeable. One thing that stands out right away is how drowned out the guitars feel, the bass and drums almost militantly take the spotlight making the guitar parts sound as if they were more of an afterthought rather than a integral component. Another aspect that could limit the band is the occasional inclination to throw in a very early 90's styled riff or solo, although this isn't necessarily a bad thing, they somewhat stand out drawing more attention than they should. Vocals could also use a bit of work melodically as some notes sound a bit strained when held for prolonged amounts of time, but that aside the performance captured here more than measures up. 5 People have a good handle on what they want to hit the world with and come extremely close to delivering it this time around, malicious vocals skewer their bass heavy beast that is fueled by the back breaking double kick laced drumbeats and grating guitars, needless to say that after listening to this, its a safe bet that at least 4 out of 5 people will recommend it.
(4 / 5)