Beartooth - Sick EP

What happens when you mash up pretension and the leftovers of a better Memphis May Fire album, hashed out by the former frontman of Attack Attack!? This is how I would have loved to end the review of Beartooth's Sick EP, but it's not that easy. I suppose I may have become a little wound up when I was told they were "slightly southern." Perhaps I expected a more Norma Jean vibe or something a bit more gritty, but I can't mock it for lacking kick. Caleb Shomo's vocal range is actually pretty rough in this EP in a kinda grimy way, and the guitar work, though nothing to write home about, is pretty solid for a metalcore EP. The tracks "I Have a Problem" and "Pick Your Poison" provide little glimpses into Every Time I Die type grooves, and are some of the highlights of the album, but that's really all there is. When two of your four recorded songs are "meh," it doesn't promise the best for their next album entitled Disgusting, set to be released in 2014.

Final verdict: it's noisy alright, but if you dig that dirty southern hardcore, I recommend you listen to Ex-Lives. If you are down with catchy metalcore that bridges on this but still pretty-boy fronted, listen to Sleepwalking by Memphis May Fire (possibly the only time I can suggest doing so). I give this five on-stage Jesus lectures out of ten vaguely Christian hardcore tours.

 

Rating: 5/10
Recommended tracks: "I Have a Problem" and "Pick Your Poison"

 

--Orin Loft hosts The Noisy Loft, Sundays 8-9 pm on CJLO