2011's
Remnants
offers Greek crustcore with a few twists courtesy of
Sarabante
, and it's about time since this particular musical style has reached global underground saturation faster than most hotly tipped subgenres. Oh sure, for the most part
, too, expend the majority of their time and energy in a d-beat frenzy, flailing their songs violently around the room as though each bandmember is harboring a personal hornets' nest inside his dungarees. But the band's imagination for interjecting striking melodies and breakdowns amid that frenzy (see "Revelation," "Those That Break, Those That Hold," "Deluminate," etc.) frankly outdoes most of the competition. And their atypical adoption of keyboards and synthesizers really helps them stand out from the pack, whether constructing quasi-symphonic accoutrements for the likes of tracks one and six (yes, curiously, the only two cuts named or screamed in Greek!), or weaving needle-through-the-ear synthesizer lines into "Rain of Shame" and "Do You Feel Safe?" (the latter being just the best of many undisguised tributes to
Tragedy
, in the best possible sense). In the end, these distinguishing elements are not only well worth the band's effort, but greatly appreciated as well, and they could be the difference
need to outlast their peers once this suddenly crowded crustcore field implodes upon itself somewhere down the line. How does one say "well done and good luck" in Greek? ~ Eduardo Rivadavia