Time in Malta – Alone with the Alone

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Is there such a thing as grown up hardcore? I don’t know, but in my humble opinion, the aggressive yet strangely alluring world of Time in Malta may be it. The opening tracks burn and crash with buckets of venom but as the album progresses it unwittingly stumbles in and out of a more thoughtful and ultimately more mature sound. The band have been through numerous line up changes of late but seem to have settled down and found a certain dynamic after their well received previous album ‘A Second Engine’ put their name on the map. But the success of the record lays in its diversity, at one moment it can be quite serene emo (Event Horizon) but with a mere flick of an eyelid it turns into something altogether more sinister as the growling ‘What are we afraid of?’ strangles you into submission. For Time in Malta, the music certainly isn’t black and white.

With the record attempting to cover a wide range of different styles, it is the hardcore sound that prevails once all is said and done, and it works fairly well. It is nothing earth shattering, and it is unlikely open too many eyes to the band, but it works sufficiently well to be labeled as a good solid effort. With the vocals alternating between scowls and more eloquent melody well, you can forgive some fairly chocolatey production that may hide the fact that lead vocalist Todd Gullion may have some problems on the parts of tracks that need a note that isn’t a scream. Opener ‘ Bare Witness’ is a perfect example of this as the track plunders along but the it is generally weakened when the superb scowls turn into nothing more than pussy footing around the subject at hand.

Whether Time in Malta need the singing sections is indeed a question that needs answering. Arguably the record would benefit as a whole if it was simply one big fuck you to all listening rather than certain sections and tracks failing to live upto the expectations we have come to gather. Apart from this minor niggle the twelve tracks can’t be faulted to much, with all tracks on show nigh on perfect musically while even little details such as the marvelous inlay and artwork is upto a high standard (But then when did Equal Vision ever falter in this department..).

With more layers than a Sara Lee cake, and lyrics that aren’t as cliché as you may expect, this is an album that can appeal to the broken hearted emo child and the flaxon haired metaller alike. Switching between intensive metallic breakdowns and moments of grace is all but an ease for the band and with ‘Alone with the Alone’ they have crafted a finely cut piece of modern hardcore, and it is pretty darn good.

Jay

www.timeinmalta.com
Equal Vision

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