Review: ScReW - Racial Mixture

I am incredibly happy with this release, Racial Mixture is a more than welcome return to form by Screw.

I first started liking screw with their release Wailing Wall, which was one of my favorite songs of the time, and remains one still. With its racing guitar & beautifully strong chorus it was exactly what a good Jrock song should be.

Then came Gather Roses.

I think it was one of the most memorable moments of disappointment in my life so far, i had such high expectations of them and it was a real let down. The song wasn't really that bad, but it was nothing like what i had expected. Anyone else who felt that disappointed can understand how good this new release is for me.

On Racial Mixture, not only is there two short instrumentals (Mongrelism & 49), which as always i hate, and a song with pure screamo and no regular melodic vocals (HELL) , which i also hate, it is still one the best releases so far this year. The instrumentals & screamo song are by no means bad, for what they are, but i don't really care for them much, as i find the voice to be the most important part of the song, and especially in a melodic chorus.

Even though the majority of the CD is as i have said, not to my tastes, i still love all of it because those songs add to the overall atmosphere and effect of the two songs that are, well, fantastic.

Kairos is the first of these two song, and is also the main track of the release (there should be a PV of it somewhere, I'll add it when i find it). The song opens well with the drums followed almost immediately by the guitars, then after a few beats going into the main riff of the song. not too soon into the riff they are joined by Byou's vocals for the verse. The verse is fairly relaxed but clearly leading to something great, as it does when at the end of the verse Byou leads into the (as-it-should-be) dramatic and powerful chorus. i do generally prefer it when they sing part of the chorus in English and this, even without that, manages to highly impress. His vocals also close the chorus beautifully, standing alone for a moment until the instruments come in on the last few syllables with the main riff. The second verse is quieter than the first, and some effects have clearly been used on Byou's vocals. This is followed by the third verse, going back to the original pattern of the first, also followed with the chorus in the same way, which still impresses. the chorus is followed by an instrumental section led by a very well composed guitar piece, then going back the ever-strong chorus, finishing with the main instrumental riff. With the confidence and accuracy to corresponding notes that appear in this song, you could easily believe that this was a band that had been going for years. Well, alot more than 3.

The second of the songs is Molder. The begging & well pretty much all of it up to the chorus, although different for Screw, didn't do anything that i hadn't heard several million times already by other bands. But all of this sounds a hell of alot better when its put together with such an amazing chorus. the melody and such changes in key are as far as i know new to screw, with a repeated word in Byou's screaming voice, followed by his regular strong yet delicate voice heightening the key, before going back to the screamo and then going to a deeper key where the heightened part was before. the second half of the song also mimics it all over with the changes in key and the up/down melody. although being reasonably inaudible, i think the majority of the lyrics are in English, which I'm sure will add to the effect when i discover what words they are.

This mini album definitely shows how good screw are, as long as they stick to what they did here, and don't do another Gather Roses styled song, they'll surely impress with any of their future releases.