Sciatica
In Search Of A Neverending Hope
6.5
If there’s one thing that this group of Alabamans (or Alabamians, take your pick) have going for them, it’s that listeners aren’t going to find this specific blend of sludge/groove metal with minor gothic influences anywhere else, especially coming from bands fronted by a female vocalist.
Promise is the key word here. For someone who has never been in a band before, Christine Hate brings a commendable amount of attitude and professionalism. The eerie, elongated approach she takes when she emphasizes the power of the lyrics on “Can You See Me” works well and largely influences my decision in choosing this song as my favorite of the four offered on the EP. Mike Hate is no slouch either. The consistently groovy feel of the EP is no doubt a product of his effort on guitar, and the moments where he supplies backing vocals work to establish a sharp contrast with Christine Hate’s soft tone. He sounds especially demonic on the EP’s opener, “Revenge,” coming close to John Henry from Darkest Hour.
In Search of a Neverending Hope can be quite frantic, transitioning from very mellow, melodic passages to the more corrosive sludge and crazy vocal antics of a group like Kylesa, and that will either be its selling point or weakness depending on your ability or inability to digest it all at once. Although I do get sick of the incessant need for genre-blending, Sciatica makes it work by constructing more subtle transitions and working to develop them rather than spontaneously insert them within each track. I am curious to see where they take their sound next on their first full-length.
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SciaticaDown The Beaten Path
10/31/2006