Drowningman

In the space of just over one calendar year, Drowningman have given us the How They Light Cigarettes In Prison EP, their second full-length and now this new EP, with the majority of the time in between spent traversing North America like gas was inexpensive and personal relationships and day jobs didn't matter. Listening to this latest offering, you can hear the fatigue in the songs' not-so-sullen grooves the same way you can see last year's NCAA Player of the Year struggling with an 80-game NBA schedule. This EP is comprised of five songs, with the continued tradition of subversively humorous song titles ("The Unbearable Burden of Always Being Right" and "Living With the Awful Truth That We're Not as Cool as We'd Like Other People to Think We Are"), harsh, up-tempo metalcore riffs buffered up against discordant duelling guitar melodies and sickeningly sweet emo tearaway passages. "The More I Get to Know You the Less I Like You" probably combines it with the best flow and synthesis. The other tracks, while still innovative in their own right, seem to lack focus, especially with the knowledge of just how capable this unholy gang of sideburn farmers are of destroying music while still giving the ardent listener something to sink teeth into. However, a top band like Drowningman, even on an off day, still blows most other bands clear out of the water, and this irreverent kick in the hardcore scene's teeth does, but when one of the finest moments on a new EP comes from a song that appeared on your first seven-inch ("Weighted and Weighed Down"), it's time to sit back and recharge the batteries.