Review Summary: If you can block out the lyrical themes, you have a fun little EP here.
Flat-Liner is a five-piece Australian industrial rock band that’s been releasing a number of singles on Bandcamp for the past year or so. Now they’ve released their first EP, Burlesque Show, to the world. And it's not a bad effort.
Overall, the EP does a decent job of showcasing what Flat-Liner can do. The songs all have their own charm while all staying pretty comfortably in their own stylistic boundaries. The opening title track is an energetic industrial rocker which is reminiscent of the works of Emigrate (Richard Z Kruspe’s side project) and sets the tone for the following three tracks, with gothic traits seeping into “Just For You” and “All the Horrors” displaying a more mechanical tempo. The biggest deviation comes in closer “Pale Blue”, however, where things slow to a haunting crawl to see things out.
On Burlesque Show, Flat-Liner display a clear talent for songwriting and, despite staying fully within the boundaries of the genre to which they’ve placed themselves, they still offer slight tweaks to the formula each time to keep things interesting. The choruses are a big selling point for them and are aided by a strong production, with everything comfortably audible in the mix. At only four tracks, though, it still feels somewhat lacking and the at times sexist lyrics can be quite distracting. While you could have seen this coming with the EP’s artwork, the delivery of the lyrics still feel rather jarring and affect the overall enjoyment of the music. If you can block that out, however, then you’ll probably enjoy this EP.
Review originally posted here: http://youngandbrokeandpissed.tumblr.com/post/158756585762/flat-liner-burlesque-show-ep-review
