Review by Paul D Houston
When it comes to listening to the fringier and more extreme genres of metal, I tend to be super picky. Maybe it's just me, but a lot of screamo, death, doom, black, thrash, Celtic and etc can mesh together and much of it sounds horribly the same. Or #boring. So, when this self-titled ep, by the band REBOOT THE SYSTEM based in Sweden came across my desk, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. It has a lot of the typical aspects of thrash and screamo - garbled lyrics, double bass kick drum, but it had an overall really strong songwriting sense which I enjoyed.
Take the song, "Drenched in My Fears"...
The vocals are over the top and I can't understand a single word he's screaming, but I really like the tempo and technicality of the songwriting. And the other songs on this ep all share similar traits. Strong songwriting and high quality instrumentation. Plus almost perfect mixes, which to me is where you really hook me as a listener. I'll take poor instrumentation with a perfect mix over an accomplished group with perfect instrumentation, but a poor mix, any day of the week.
So for a debut ep, this band has done a great job. I don't know how long this band has been playing together or playing music in general, but they're definitely not amateurs. I will be looking forward to any and all future releases by this band.
Also, as a side-note if you are looking for new death, doom, Celtic or black metal bands, this band probably ain't it. Without sounding too offensive, this ep is a little more commercial than your standard, death or doom metal release.
You can find the full four song ep at:
Bandcamp - https://rebootthesystem.bandcamp.com/releases
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/09wzbMJQPytGNKOs0a6e2G?si=THN-584HR6e6Ww1WUnlrnQ
I'm not sure where this band is going from here, but with a foundation stone like this ep, I'm sure it can only get better.