Thursday, June 23, 2011

REMISSION - Winds of Promise EP Review

There are times that every music critic has to pause and listen harder to what they have in front of them. No matter how much music you have heard, there are always records that will make it hard for you to explain the feelings you get when you listen to them. In most cases, these records are... very good. And in those said rare cases, the best way to review them is to take the simple route and and just say a few honest things about them.

Winds of Promise by Remission is such a record. It is an exceptional, against the grain hardcore EP made by a Chilean band, which traveled the world and reached TYS in Greece by way of US label React! Records.

The first thing I thought of when I played this record was that it had an early/mid 90s vibe, and especially from the period when hardcore was drifting from the youth crew and old school hc standards, and was experimenting with different, more progressive sounds (bands like early Shelter, Mouthpiece etc). And even though Remission or even myself were not around in the hardcore scene in the early/mid 90s, we surely love that period and have a special place in our hearts for it. In fact, I can just listen to this music and let myself travel in times when hardcore was more sincere, more emotional and more thought-provoking. In times when the word 'integrity' actually had a meaning.

This 3-song EP cannot be classified musically, because all three songs are different. I don't know how, but these kids manage to combine a lot of different musical styles and still pull it off with the consistency level. I guess everything is possible when you know what you're doing. There are nice melodic (yet powerful) vocals which balance between hardcore and rock. There is a strong, groovy rhythm section with a nice, thick bass sound delivering some crucial licks inbetween the notes. The guitars are melodic and not fully distorted (I'd say a 7/10 on the distortion scale!) and create room for some extra special melodic hc guitar noodling!

This is just what I needed to hear this summer. Because not every night is a partymosh night, I want to have an album like this in my record collection for when I want to think, do some soul searching  and throw an Xd fist in to the night sky!



p.s. Look for Remission's new split EP with Police & Thieves!

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