Review Summary: It would be little more than a way to earn 5 bucks from loyal fans, but luckily contains some good music.
Andrew Schwab - Vocals
Randy Torres - Guitar, Vocals
Stephen Dail - Bass
Jason Gerkins - Drums
It has been a little more than five months since Project 86 released their last full length album,
Rival Factions, and now the hard rock foursome has decided to release a 5 song EP featuring two B-sides, a cover, and two remixes. Nothing on this is necessarily “new”, the two remixes were up for listening on the band’s Myspace about a year ago. Anyone closely following the band in the months leading up to
Rival Factions’s release will know that the original tracklist released was 13 songs, and included “The Kane Mutiny” as well as “Rte. 66”. One can only guess that Tooth & Nail (the record label) took them off the album once they realized they could wait several months and release this EP. Which means the only new song here is the Sisters of Mercy cover “Lucretia (My Reflection)” (which has been up on their Myspace for a couple days or so)
Now like most users here, I’m not really supportive of track-by-track reviews, but since this is only five songs it makes more sense (to me at least):
The Kane Mutiny – Starts with some quick tempo drumming and shortly transitions into the verse with an equally fast guitar riff backing Andrew’s yelling. The transition to pre-chorus and then chorus is not so easily noticed, and the chorus sounds fairly similar to the verse, with Andrew shouting “
You’re not gonna stop us tonight!/No one’s gonna take us alive!” There’s a short transition to the second verse, and after another chorus, Randy delivers a machine gun punkish riff. After Schwab repeats “
One dies, one survives” several times, the chorus is repeated several more times to finish the song.
This would have been a much better opener than
Evil for
Rival Factions, since it features much more raw power that traditionally opened P86 records. (The originally released/leaked tracklist featured this song at the beginning.)
Lucretia (My Reflection) – The intro and verse consist of a steady drumbeat and a very audible bass line with Schwab whispering the lyrics. This all picks up for the chorus, with louder, sung vocals backed by a distorted guitar chord progression. After another verse and chorus, Randy delivers a technically simple but tasteful guitar solo. This song is not quite like anything the band has done before, and it works well.
Rte. 66 – Starts out with pretty slow guitar and drums, and the verse is equally mellow with Schwab basically speaking the lyrics in similar fashion to the previous song. But the chorus features Schwab yelling, and not backed well at all by the rest of his band. The bridge is pretty much the same thing, with his screaming vocals not featuring any strong riffs to back it. A filler quality track.
Something We Can’t Be (Remix) - As far as remixes go, this is a good one. It starts out with a cool electronic effect followed by a drum loop. The first part of the verse is whispered by some unknown female voice, which sounds almost haunting. The rest of the song is very similar to the original, with fairly slowly sung vocals, except the vocals are backed only with electronic beats and the aforementioned female voice. This is one remix I feel was done really well.
From December (Remix) – Begins with slow acoustic guitar strumming, which continues into the verse. The female voice from the previous song is heard backing Schwab on both verses. Randy’s voice delivers the first part of the chorus before Schwab comes in shouting the rest of the chorus. The distorted guitar in the bridge is softer than the original, and you can again hear Randy singing parts of it. The last chorus brings the guitar back in and sounds quite like the original, save for the absence of drums. This is overall just a decent remix.
Track ratings:
1. The Kane Mutiny 3.5/5
2. Lucretia (My Reflection) 3/5
3. Rte. 66 2/5
4. Something We Can't Be (Joel B. of the Echoing Green Mix) 3/5
5. From December (Randy T. Remix) 2.5/5
In summary, any Project 86 fan should be pleased with these songs, which are available exclusively on iTunes for $5. (You also get the "Evil" music video along with it, which I feel is a fairly good deal)
