EP Reviews: Weezer, Purity Ring, Tomb Mold
It's been a while since I did an EP round up and the year has honestly seemed kind of slow in that department, but hopefully we can pick back up to covering these short projects more frequently.
SZNZ: Summer - Weezer
Part two of Weezer's promise to release four seasonal EPs this year has arrived and after I wasn't crazy about the first collection of songs I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. Turns out it's an improvement on all fronts but there is one way in particular that it makes itself a more high impact listen and that's by turning up the intensity. Seriously even compared to their butt rock renditions of Van Halen rock a few years ago they really have genuinely upped the impact of the tracks in the mix here. Occasionally this comes to fruition in typical Weezer pop rock fashion on songs like the life-affirming music tribute Records. It also comes in songs that compositionally and sonically step out of Weezer's comfort zone like the strange transitional period of The Opposite Of Me which manages to rock about as hard as anything I've ever heard from the band. Even though it all this is most definitely still a Weezer album which means everything has to turn back around to a pop hook, which are inconsistent across the record. It's also a Weezer record in the way you don't want to pay any more attention to the lyrics than you have to, though they aren't all bad and can even be kind of charming on songs like Cuomoville and Records. Though it definitely sports inconsistencies just like the Spring EP the highlights are much more engaging and also test the waters of different sounds much more than the predecessor. 6/10
graves - Purity Ring
Right now I'm revisiting Purity Ring's excellent debut album for my 2012 retrospective videos and it's reminded me what made them so compelling in the first place, because everything since has kind of failed to. Not that they've been a terrible band or anything but none of their music ever has the genre pushing eccentricities mixes with pinpoint songwriting that was once their marquee move. As it turns out this EP isn't half bad and while it hardly pushes their sound in any new directions I have to admit I still find their chilly brand of reverby synth pop to be pretty appealing. I will say that the songwriting is certainly inconsistent but on highlights here like watersong, graves and soshy the combination of hooky refrains and textured sonic space is quite enjoyable. I still wouldn't call any of these tracks the bands best work nor does it approach anything as striking as their debut was at the time but I certainly never had a difficult time making my way through these songs. 6/10
Aperture Of Body - Tomb Mold
After a prolific run of albums and then a few years of silence extreme metal band Tomb Mold is back with a new Bandcamp exclusive EP that I was pretty excited for even though I've never been the most educated metal listener in the world. I've enjoyed their music quite a bit in the past and I had no reason to expect this would be any different. The EP is split up between three tracks of two, four and six minutes respectively and the first is a pretty stripped back instrumental interlude. But from there we don't waste any time as the title track opens up quickly with wiry riffs and absolutely guttural vocals. It translates pretty seamlessly into Prestige Of Rebirth the records six minute closing track which comes with a bit more compositionally diversity and instrumental passages that change on a dime throughout. While the track is heavy throughout I do like some of the detours it takes that give meaningful breaks from the otherwise march that otherwise chuggs along. Though it does have a more creeping and reserved finale I think I prefer the succinctness of the title track though I can admire the grand rise and fall in energy that the project creates through its tracklist. These songs don't really seem to be rewriting the book on Tomb Mold but they also hold up to my expectations for the band and I have to conclude that I enjoy them all for their own reasons. 7/10
