# Steering Fail EP



## ramsay_baggins (Feb 2, 2011)

My best friend's band just realeased their first EP (Free download available here) and I'm trying to spread the word. They had their launch last night and all their copies went.

What do you guys think? You can listen via the link and it's free to download if you like it.


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## Cam (Feb 2, 2011)

I can see the sound that they are going for, they just dont seem to quite make it.

Its good, buts its somewhat lacking in groove & rhythm. It sounds like the singer isnt even within tempo in alot of parts. It has a good sound, but the most important part to a song is it's factor to keep an audience listening to the whole thing. My ears got tired within 1 minute of all the songs.


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## Joeyyy (Feb 2, 2011)

something sounded extremely off timing.


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## Whitenoise (Feb 3, 2011)

First thing I'm noticing is the sludgy guitar sound, I like that quite a  bit. Rather like the opening riff as well. The punchy drums are a good fit,  and I really like the sharp hats at around 1:10, and the odd bass  thump/rumble during the pause at 2:07. Vocalist has good energy, he's a  good fit as well. The amelodic vocals sound kind of out of place  though.

Opening of the second song is great, good use of feedback. Finding the  rest way too radio rock to enjoy though, so I'm afraid I can't make a real  assessment. I had this problem with a good chunk of the first song as  well. The amelodic vocals still kind of strike me as an afterthought.

Liking the guitar effect at the beginning of the third song, and these are  my favorite riffs by far. I like the odd, bluesy vibe, and  the amelodic vocals fit perfectly here. This is the first song I've  enjoyed straight through. The whole thing sounds way more natural. I think the darker, more unorthodox guitar work really suits the band's sound a lot more.

The opening of the fourth song is really well played, I wish the band  was this tight for the whole EP. Honestly I found the first  2:17 a bit unmemorable, but the rest of the song is probably the most  dynamic/compelling part of the EP. Awesome buildup/climax, it's  hampered a bit by some timing issues with the drumming but the idea is  really solid. Also this song makes the best use of the amelodic vocals in my opinion.

I like the last two tracks a lot more than the first two, but to be  perfectly honest I'm not really qualified to judge this band. The  closest thing to them I listen to would be something like this, and I'm guessing your friend didn't set out to make anything this dark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDs6eJRPE9I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTVfoLe6Zwg

So I guess the only advice I can offer that isn't biased by my personal  preferences would be to tighten up their musicianship a bit, especially  with regards to timing.


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## Aden (Feb 3, 2011)

Whitenoise said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDs6eJRPE9I


 
Where do you fucking _find_ this stuff, augh <3

Anyway, thoughts! Were they recording it live as a full band, or were they overdubbing? They might want to consider doing a few more takes next time they're in the studio - timing is the biggest problem here and it throws me off a few times. Feed that click/drum track into their headphones louder.

Feels like they have their sound dialed in and they know what they're going for. It's a ton more competent than other friend-of-a-friend bands I've heard. Song structure isn't shitty, guitarist seems to know what he/she's doing (though the solos are sometimes mixed too low and drenched in too much effect for my taste - hopefully not a coverup of bad technique). Vocalist isn't _too_ annoying. Speaking of, vox are sometimes way higher in the mix than they should be.

Second song reminds me of Incubus for some reason. Don't know if they got any influence from them or not.

Vocalist had a pretty decent scream in the "bridge" on track 3. Should do that more.

And I think the last track is the strongest. It's the best display of the band playing together instead of just playing at the same time.

But, like the above poster, this isn't really my preferred type of music and it should be judged by someone in their target audience. I think the vocals force themselves on everything else too much - I tend to dislike vocal-centric music, and here they're oftentimes elevated to the tip-top of the mix and you can't pay attention to anything else. Trying to be above the sound instead of part of the sound and all that. But I'm an instrumental guy. |3


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