There seems to be a current trend in modern punk rock, and unlike most trends that usually involve haircuts, wristbands and pants, this is a musical one - and a very positive one, if you ask me. Seems to me that a lot of punk/hardcore bands, both new and old, invest a lot more time in not only writing good songs, but solidifying them with layers of extra everything in true "more is more"-spirit. Despite this tendency somewhat contradicting the original, "no frills"-philosophy of punk rock, I think it's nice to see punk rock take a step in a positive direction, as opposed to the thousands of steps it seems to have taken down the wrong road in the last few years/decades/minutes.
Of course, spear-heading and popularizing this evolution is New Bedford, Massachusetts-natives
A Wilhelm Scream who hit it big with their 2004 full-length "
Mute Print" - a self-admittedly hyperbole piece of melodicore art, they crammed more blazing dual guitar riffs into each song than found on an average Iron Maiden CD, and topped it off with a thick layer of vocal harmonization, arranged into songs with numerous twists and turns, stops and gos, shifts and breaks. They followed up "
Mute Print" with equally multi-faceted ("
We wouldn't attempt another record if we didn't think it could blow the last one away") "
Ruiner" only a year later. This EP, "
Diver" consists of two songs that were recorded with "
Mute Print" but had to be cut due to the vocal track accidentally being deleted.
But it's really not like these songs are bad, or even less good than what ended up on either full-length - quite the opposite, "
Diver" is quite possibly the best song aWS has recorded to date. From opening progression to closing break, it's the epitome of everything we love about A Wilhelm Scream; blazing riffs (a particular salute to the stop at 2:28), sardonically bitter lyrics and fleetingly solid rhythms.
Second song "
They Like Their Turtlenecks Ribbed" is only 40 seconds long (but short is sweet when a song is good, as aWS has proven before with songs like "
Hike" and "
Mute Print") and deals with fashionistas in a (now to be considered) classic Wilhelm manner, blazing in 200mph and as catchy as the flu.
All in all though, this 7" only has two songs and is short of 4 minutes in length - it's probably only a motivated buy for fans, but beginners could download it for an introduction to the band, and get their hands on"
Ruiner" or "
Mute Print", because "
Diver" is guaranteed to make you crave more.
