Review Summary: "And every moment I lose without you, fighting interference between my mind and the tip of my tongue, I am lost. Tripping over my words, over insanity, racking my every thought, drowning this conviction behind an apathetic mask." Need I say more?
Let's face it; the term "screamo" is becoming pretty obsolete -- it's either used to describe EVERY form of music containing screaming (from black metal to crunkcore) or used selectively by the more pretentious "skramz" fans. Said fans will rant and rave over the use of the term so loosely; "Suicide Silence is not screamo! Orchid is!" When will a revival take place that shows the mainstream that screamo is not what they think it is? When will the "scene" people realize that Black Veil Brides is NOT screamo? Is screamo's definition changing right before our eyes? No. Screamo is alive and well, and New England-based Old Gray will prove it.
Angry, energetic, inspired and emotional, T. S. Eliot inspired 'Do I Dare Disturb The Universe' is said attempted revival. Did they fail? Pretty much. But this EP is pretty awesome.
First track "Her Tongue Was Tattooed On The Back Of Her Teeth" dives into the poetic activity of the group, yelling constantly at their romantic melancholy. "Can you feel my beating heart? Buried beneath the backyard- the place we used to live, where we stood on our own. We were rooted in this home. Where we exhaled our last breath and watched the summer fade to blackness." Poetry, no? This track fares into "Dying Leaves" quite smoothly, and ends to quickly for me to appreciate very much, decreasing the quality of this EP. "City Orchard", the best track on this album, is a good display of their influences, as the melodies of I Hate Myself and the chaos of Orchid are highly audible, with the vocal qualities of Saetia. "Instrumental" (which isn't actually an instrumental) is a rather depressing end to this bleak emotion, which shows their demanding and aggressive side, with spoken word lyrics as was in the first track.
This album has very high lyrical qualities, obviously. Like I said, the first track is poetry; but that distracts the listener from the music in most cases. It (the music) is quite generic, especially for an emo band -- most of it reminds me of some of Indian Summer's material. Tracks 2 and 3 are pretty derivative of Orchid's "Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow!" And the singers are extremely lacking; they aren't even really screaming, more so yelling, or even shouting; also, the attempts of vocal melodies in the first track are merely shameful. One can tell that not very much work or originality was put into this EP musically. And the production does not help matters very much, as the drums are too loud, drowning out the guitars in some instances.
As you listen to this 11 minute album, realize that Old Gray is amateur at this point, and developing. Skramz fans shall accept them for who they are and what they are trying to do, and while they might not be making the best music at this point, said support will inspire them to become better. Hey, they could cause a screamo revolution! 4/5
