PIT's second EP is a fine snack for fans of sludgy, doomy hardcore.
PIT is a sludgy hardcore two-man band from Lansing, Michigan. CYNICAL is their second EP and it offers us three tracks of heavy riffing sludginess including an Electric Wizard cover.
The first track "CYNICAL" opens up with a doomy riff and my first reaction to it was like "Woah, this sounds epic. Really good guitar tone!"And the guitar tone indeed carries the first part of the song as drums could use a little bit more punchiness. However, this changes as soon as the song really kicks in around the half minute mark when we are greeted by aggressive distorted vocals and more intensive beat - this also marks the spot when the doominess is left behind. Personally I'm not really a fan of this kind of vocal style, but after listening to the EP a few times I've actually grown to like it on this song and EP. For someone who likes this kind of style it should be a blast right from the introduction. The song continues with grooving riffs and beats and makes a return to doomy, stoner like riffing in the end.
As second is the Electric Wizard cover "RETURN TRIP" which has cut quite a chunk of the original song from its length - this track clocks in a bit over 4 minutes whereas the original is around 10 minutes long. I think this is a fine choice as one much longer song wouldn't probably make much sense on an EP where the other 2 tracks are under 4 minutes long - but more importantly, the style in which the cover is delivered fits the band and blends in the EP really well. It sounds heavy and one could think of it as kind of a modernized version of the original driven forward more by guitars rather than bass. While definitely being not so doomy as original, it "compensates" that with grooviness, making it a fine cover at least in my opinion.
As last is "GUILTLESS FASCINATION" which starts faster, but descents to doomier style around one minute mark. The beginning of this new part with clean vocals somehow reminds me of Candlemass which I think is a great thing - seal of doom should be approved at this stage at the very latest. The song wraps up itself and the whole EP with a stoner-ish doom riff jam. Or sludge jam, if you so prefer.
Summary:
The EP delivers 3 great tracks which mix sludgy, doomy, groovy and hardcore styles i n a rather balanced way. While not being anything innovatively new, at least the song structures aren't the most basic of all out there which makes the listening more interesting. My personal favorite thing from the EP, the guitar tone (and mix) alone could make this worth listening. Clocking in a bit over 10 minutes, the EP doesn't become boring or self-repeating at any point and leaves the listener to fancy some more of PIT.
Favorite track: CYNICAL / GUILTLESS FASCINATION
Rating: 3,75/5
- Bat
Tracklist:
CYNICAL
RETURN TRIP (Electric Wizard Cover)
GUILTLESS FASCINATION
PIT / EP on Bandcamp:
https://pitmichigan.bandcamp.com/album/cynical
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