WALLS OF JERICHO - Redemption |
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I have considered Walls Of Jericho always as a pioneering hardcore band. They were female fronted already in the last millennium, when hardcore was about much more than wearing emo clothes and having expensive haircuts. I dare say they only evolved with time, refining their recipes, and maybe that’s why I feel so disturbed by their new CD-EP Redemption which shows the band from an acoustic side. Not that I have anything against acoustic music, but this Corey Taylor (Slipknow, Stone Sour) produced record ultimately feels like a very calculated effort to get a bigger slice of the cake. Alice In Chains were probably one of the earliest bands to make an all-acoustic EP (Sap) back in 1992. It was quaint, but didn’t live up to their regular material. The same can be said about Redemption, except that Corey Taylor is singing co-vocals on three song, giving the overall atmosphere an even cheesier feeling. All is lost when they band tries and desperately fails at House Of The Rising Sun, a classic that can only given justice by Eric Burdon. The opener Ember Drive and the middle track No Saving Me have their moments, the latter maybe because of the decent screamo vocals, but eventually this never feels like a Walls Of Jericho release. The songs are all between four and five minutes long, too mellow and seemingly aimed at radio airplay. I hope that Walls Of Jericho are soon back with a regular guitar driven album, where Ms Kucsulain can scream her guts out again, as we are used to. At least the EP is sold at a low single CD price, so you won’t lose much by trying. |