It's a metal meltdown of Danzig meets Down, meets Fear Factory and a little Stone Temple Pilots. This five song EP from Blind Race is short but sweet. The first two songs are vicious pieces shrapnel severing your body into shreds of hamburger. "Hypocrite" and "Come and get It" have no guitar solos, but they do not lack, slack or relax. It keeps kicking you in the groin....over and over.
"Hopeless" adds some mellow flavor here and brings in the records first solo. The clean guitar in the intro and the happy-snappy riffing on the hi-hat and snare drum kill in the verses (the 2nd verse in particular). Keeping the mid tempo vibe, "Truth or Dare" gives you a sweet keyboard intro coupled with some tasty sweeps on the guitar, but when the chorus hits, it hits with vengeance!
"Gone" slows things way down. The 12 string strumming envelopes you as the laid back melody makes you sway and then it's over in 1 minute and 39 seconds. This song needs to be longer. He could get all Jimmy Page and attack the fret board while the singer could belt out some more lyrics. But I digress a lot.
Downside is the vocals got a little muddy in "Come and Get It" and "Truth or Dare" and the first two tracks had no solo. This guy can rip and I know those two tunes could have had some killer riffing going on them; which brings me to the solo in "Hopeless". It lost me. It has great distortion and wah action but it sounded a bit "thrown together" for my taste.
Upside is "Gone" with its beautiful arrangement and melody that melts the soul. Then there is "Truth or Dare". Despite the vocals getting a bit muddy, the song kicks ass! Nutshelled, I give Blind Race an eyes wide shut 8.
Tim Duran, HMS
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