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The Hokkaido
Concern: Circuits Flooded
The Hokkaido Concern: Circuits Flooded EP is an awkward jumble of mismatched riffs and hollow lyrics, but is not without its redeeming moments. Read on. The opening track Marvin, begins with a decent riff, but once the vocals come in, the song comes off as ridiculous. Time matters, lies matter, truth matters, lies matter. If you dont have anything important to say, its best to not say it at all. The rest of the song sounds like ten different riffs the band came up with and slapped together to form a song. Literally every 16 measures, something new is going on. It makes me dizzy. The next song, Maria, also begins with a cool riff, and this time the same idea is kept for longer than a few seconds so it sounds more like a song. Then, guess what happens the vocals come in. Screaming something incoherent just doesnt do it for me anymore. Then they go back to drawing riffs from the hat, and change it up on you every few seconds until the song breaks down in the middle with noises of glass shattering. I guess this is supposed to let people know just how badass they are, but it comes off as ridiculous. Track 3, Axl Royz, starts off yet again with a pretty hot riff that gets the metalhead in me excited. This song, while still using a vast array of riffs, actually sounds coherent, and the lack of vocals make it a high point of the EP. This song is what you would get if Cursive and Iron Maiden joined forces. Pretty damn cool. David Cassidy is the next track. See the first two song reviews to get an idea of how this song plays out. I will say this song ends on a cool note, utilizing a well-placed delay on a very tight melody. The final track on this EP, Fugue in Lee Minor, starts exactly the way I would expect it to. Guitar wankery: tapping, tapping, and more tapping. Once the vocals come in, the song does change for the better. The song ends on a long, drawn-out mournful chord, which rings out for a full minute. You expect it to taper off into nothing, which would be a decent ending instead these guys thought it would be a good idea to put a few seconds at the tail end of the track of a repeated sample of glass breaking, and people talking. It ruins the mood and sounds stupid. In conclusion, the EP is unpolished at best. Theres no doubt the Hokkaido Concern is made up of talented musicians. It seems, however, that they are not talented songwriters. All of the songs lack cohesion. It sounds as if during their jam sessions they throw riffs that are in the same key together, and call it a song. That wont fly. Give them a few more years, and I think these guys have the potential to write some amazing music.
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