"Betrayed by the Beautiful" - April 2003
22/08/06 21:10
The band returned to Clearwater to record their
second studio demo. It was recorded by
1. Logic beyond Control
2. End of Apathy
3. The Trauma of Switchblade Confessions
4. Betrayed by the Beautiful
Allergo - Betrayed By The Beautiful (13/5/03)
Allergo is a young local metal band we've been watching for a while and they've dhown their prowess both live and on demo over the last year or so.
Opening track Logic Beyond Control kicks off with almost a minutes-worth of sample that sounds like the sound of a TV war report - not the best way to start a demo as industry folks generally want to geta flavour of the act in the first 30 seconds, otherwise they lose interest and/or ditch the demo. However, when the music does start, it's hi-impact quality playing. The vocals are a little muffled even for death metal standards and are rather over-shadowed by the strong instrumental skills and great sound.
End Of Apathy brings another dose of metal-based sounds. It's a tighter, more interesting number and the vocals are stronger and more confident - there's a pretty cool vocal-led chorus in the back of the mix which is a nice touch.
Nice track fitting square into three minutes.
Third up is The Truama Of Switchblade Confessions which has an interesting percusive intro and some nice hollow guitar honk offset by a chugging middle passage that gives the speaker cones on the Music Scene hi-fi a fair workout. Just when we thought the song was through, though, it picks up again taking the overall track length to a monster eight and a half minutes.
Closer Betrayed By The Beautiful starts off sounding pretty mellow and vibey before rocking out in the best possible fashion. There's some fantastic guitar bits - especially a vocal/guitar face of in the middle - that make this one of our favourites.
The songs on this demo show a great breadth of musical ability and the instrumental skills of the band are second to none. The vocals are really a matter of taste - die hard death mettalers will likely love them but for more (only slightly!) mainstream listeners the lyrics are too intelligible. If the singer eased off just a little on the extreamity scale and the vocals given more prominent place in the mix Allergo could find themselves being a big hit with a whole cross section of rock fans rather than appealing only to a hardcore niche market.
The packaging is nicely done and lacks only a contact name and phone number. Although the bands web address is there, phone numbers are still important.
Regardless of the limited appeal from a stylistic point of view, Betrayed By The Beautiful is a strong, well-produced and recorded demo that should position the band weill in it's chosen area.
1. Logic beyond Control
2. End of Apathy
3. The Trauma of Switchblade Confessions
4. Betrayed by the Beautiful
Allergo - Betrayed By The Beautiful (13/5/03)
Allergo is a young local metal band we've been watching for a while and they've dhown their prowess both live and on demo over the last year or so.
Opening track Logic Beyond Control kicks off with almost a minutes-worth of sample that sounds like the sound of a TV war report - not the best way to start a demo as industry folks generally want to geta flavour of the act in the first 30 seconds, otherwise they lose interest and/or ditch the demo. However, when the music does start, it's hi-impact quality playing. The vocals are a little muffled even for death metal standards and are rather over-shadowed by the strong instrumental skills and great sound.
End Of Apathy brings another dose of metal-based sounds. It's a tighter, more interesting number and the vocals are stronger and more confident - there's a pretty cool vocal-led chorus in the back of the mix which is a nice touch.
Nice track fitting square into three minutes.
Third up is The Truama Of Switchblade Confessions which has an interesting percusive intro and some nice hollow guitar honk offset by a chugging middle passage that gives the speaker cones on the Music Scene hi-fi a fair workout. Just when we thought the song was through, though, it picks up again taking the overall track length to a monster eight and a half minutes.
Closer Betrayed By The Beautiful starts off sounding pretty mellow and vibey before rocking out in the best possible fashion. There's some fantastic guitar bits - especially a vocal/guitar face of in the middle - that make this one of our favourites.
The songs on this demo show a great breadth of musical ability and the instrumental skills of the band are second to none. The vocals are really a matter of taste - die hard death mettalers will likely love them but for more (only slightly!) mainstream listeners the lyrics are too intelligible. If the singer eased off just a little on the extreamity scale and the vocals given more prominent place in the mix Allergo could find themselves being a big hit with a whole cross section of rock fans rather than appealing only to a hardcore niche market.
The packaging is nicely done and lacks only a contact name and phone number. Although the bands web address is there, phone numbers are still important.
Regardless of the limited appeal from a stylistic point of view, Betrayed By The Beautiful is a strong, well-produced and recorded demo that should position the band weill in it's chosen area.