Widescreen Mode
Another Day EP
6.8
Widescreen Mode, as odd of a name as that seems to me for a metal band, may be a group to keep your eyes on for the next year or two, possibly even longer. They have a milder and softer edged metal sound much in the same vane as the latter day work of fellow countrymen Sentenced that meshes perfectly with the mellower sounding side of Gardenian peppered with choruses right on par with the sing-alongs you’re hearing from In Flames & Soilwork these days. This four song EP was released earlier this year and the band has already made plans to return to the studio to follow this release up by recording their first full length album. While the production on Another Day is nowhere near perfect it is pretty impressive for an EP with all of the instruments coming through clearly enough giving each its own distinct sound. As with most up and coming bands there are some kinks to iron out before I can give them my full blessing. It wouldn’t hurt to add some more grit to the vocal department, but make no mistake about it, these are well sung clean vocals that are tolerable even with the thick Finnish accent. The guitar sound does seem a bit muddy and when the keys come in they add to that cloudiness. I’d suggest keeping the keys involved but to a lesser degree by lowering them in the mix and bringing the riffs forward more by thickening up the guitar sound. These guitar passages are so damn catchy that they bring to light this band’s strong suit, which is their ability to write memorable verse sections and catchy choruses within their songs. Although this is not my favorite sub-genre of metal, I knew the band was onto something when I woke up this morning with one of their songs stuck in my head. In some cases that’s not necessarily a good thing, but in this case it could have been a whole lot worse. The lyrical content seems to be of a more serious nature, with the opening song taking a shot at President Bush (how original) letting him know they don’t need our war. I guess I wasn’t aware that we are pissing off the Finns along with the rest of the world these days, but what do I know. At the end of the day this is music for a broader and more mainstream audience with not a whole lot on hand for the brootiest of bullet belt wearing extreme metal fans. It will be interesting to see if Widescreen Mode can monopolize on this sound and come up with a set of songs that will keep listeners entertained throughout an entire full length release. If they can do that then they’ll definitely receive consistent airplay on your favorite radio station over there in Helsinki and other parts of the world. Unfortunately US radio is not, and probably never will be, very accepting of this style of music or any real metal for that matter.
