Oddly enough, this NYC-based band has been around
for about ten years and have gone unnoticed. A Guide to Better Living is
SOS' 3rd release with
3:16 productions (which is a sort of unsigned plethora of bands) and consists
of 17 plentiful tunes. They don't really have any specific sound other than
-core. What I mean is, some tracks sound similar to Suicidal Tendencies
and others are like The Dead Milkmen. In essence, they play anything from
punk to hardcore. These guys are extremely talented too. There isn't anything
that grasps the listener, though. There are 17 tracks, but only 2 or 3 possess
any real potency to make the listener want to hear the disc time and time
again. SOS mix up styles, tempos and vocals with ease, but they need an
element in the music that ties all their songs together. Be it more guitar
fuzz / ring? Some double-kick drumming? Keyboards? Maybe a little more of
the "melodic" stuff? Any one of those things would unite the songs
better. A definite checker-outer for fans of punk and hardcore!
Rating: 65
Reviewed By: Thomas Mitchell |
