Not giving up after a setback can be very difficult but usually the perseverance pays off, as can be seen quite beautifully by today’s record! Mean To You started off as a band but after all the members left, the bassist decided to continue the project on his own and is about to release his third solo-effort, titled What We Could Have Been!
After an album that can be seen as an excursion into the electronic soundscape and a collaborative second EP, this time around all instruments are done by himself and on the vocal front he enlists the help of local dread-headed legend Tap, from Atomic Rocket Seeders.
That’s enough background info, let’s get to the meat of the thing: the music! Upon my first listen my initial thoughts were that it sounds very familiar, in a good way, and it didn’t take long for the gears in my head to piece together who I was thinking of: Diecast! Especially the vocals could be on the metalcore classic Internal Revolution and you wouldn’t notice a difference between the original. Specifically the fry screams are just the perfect early 2000s throwback and made me really nostalgic.
The instrumentals on the other hand are very fast-paced and groove-heavy, making sure that there is not a dull moment during these six songs. To me they have just the right mix between chugging riffs and more intricate guitar parts that stand out quite a bit, a good example of this can be heard in the song below, Straight Ahead.
The drums are fairly diverse as well, but they never take away the focus from the vocals or the strings, always choosing to serve the song instead. Last but not least, these twenty-six minutes are surprisingly well produced, for such a small project, every note can be heard clearly but it never sounds over-polished, which I appreciate quite a bit, especially in this genre.
To sum things up, Mean To You honestly took me by surprise because I wasn’t expecting what was delivered in any way. What Could Have Been is an EP that will make older metalcore fans’ hearts beat faster and I’m sure that non-aficionados will also enjoy the ride. For more information, you can head to the band’s Facebook page and make sure to listen to the song below.