Artist: Final Deadline
Title: Root Of Anger
Type: EP
Label: Unsigned

The first thing I tend to do when getting a CD from a band of which I have never heard is skim-read through the accompanying press sheet for clues as to what sort of sound is going to grace my ears when I put it in the stereo. Okay, so evidently English is not the first language, but surely something akin to “we play thrash metal” takes far less effort than such pretentious statements as; “Root Of Anger, self, existential themes expressed according to a logic almost “dream.” The moniker “Final Deadline” is a formal and bureaucratic recontextualized in key eschatological…understood in two dimensions: individual and collective…” and so on, you get the idea. Er…is this really important? Well, it certainly gives me the impression that the band have an elevated sense of self-importance to think that the average listener cares enough about this band’s supposedly superior intellect to write all this in such a way that I feel like I am reading jumbled up statements from an academic journal as opposed to a sheet of paper designed to introduce the band.

As is so often the case with these inexperienced bands full of pompous ideas that are naturally going to enlighten us all, the music is painfully mediocre. The band members themselves have previously played in rock covers bands, power metal bands and a Metallica tribute band, and what we hear is a combination of all of the above. The guitars are quite thrashy; ‘Over The Shining Blaze’ begins with a fast riff that really goes for it, while on ‘Crossing’ they play up the power metal influence with some Maidenesque harmonies. The vocals have that clean power delivery too, and do the job well enough. I have to say that the musicianship on this EP isn’t bad at all, there’s some competent playing and it’s not particularly sloppy. It is just the songwriting is very tired and uninspired with nothing memorable or distinctive – I could walk into any small pub venue on a Saturday night and find a bunch of 18 year old Maiden/Metallica fans playing exactly the same stuff and which would leave me cold and unimpressed. I’m quite sure that in Messina (Italy) where the band hail from these boys will have a dozen supporters who think they are the dogs bollocks, who probably don’t get out very much...and there is room in this world for bands like this to keep local music scenes alive, but the next big thing they ain’t.

http://www.myspace.com/finaldeadline