Saosin - Translating the Name

Saosin
Translating the Name
Death Do Us Part Records
Grade: A-

This is the debut EP for this five-piece from southern California. Given that they produced and recorded it themselves, you may suspect the five tracks to be suspect themselves. Yet the five tracks hum and smoke with an amazing tightness and skill. In short, Saosin play an amalgamation of punk, hardcore and indie rock - not unlike other bands today, but much better. The two guitars (from Beau Burchell and Justin Shekoski) weave and layer each other while maintaining an undying love for harmonics - something that has been sorely missing since Snapcase's Progression Through Unlearning. The EP launches off with "Seven Years" and Anthony Green's sweet melodic vocals and a free-flowing intro. Yet, less than a minute into the song, Saosin start throwing down with screaming and riffling guitars with harmonics. To some extent, the structure of this section is like what early Cave In would have done if they were writing more punk numbers. This is a tremendous opening track that bates and then snags the listener. The next track "Translating the Name" contains a similar opening section but with a more standard structure and backing vocals. "3rd Measurement in C" slows in a linear manner until the very end when it excels. While "Lost Symphonies" could benefit from an extension of the seemingly aborted guitar fills, it fits in quality with the other tracks. The finale "They Perched On Their Stilts, Pointing and Daring Me to Break Custom" begins with grinding guitars that could be found on the latest Darkest Hour album before breaking down into mellow verse and back up with chugging chorus. As mentioned in the beginning this is a stunning EP from an open and coming band from the burgeoning southern California scene (read: not the simple SoCal punk scene). The only thing that could possibly stop this band from becoming huge is they cease from existing.