Far away from the Land of the Free, America, the culturally rich country of France resides between Spain and Germany. It is a hotspot of great dining, historical artifacts and vibrant fashion.
The “crusty” punk group Elizabeth aims to celebrate their homeland by assaulting the world with extremely heavy and unwieldy music. Although these adjectives sound questionable, they accurately describe Elizabeth’s sound, yet this extremely short release falls just a bit short of great. (NOTE: This is NOT a band for the lighthearted.)
The EP opens with blasting drums reminiscent of black death metal, but then very clean and melodic guitars are dashed into the mix, demonstrating influence of post-hardcore. This mixing of influences makes for a great opener. A little more experimentation with sounds at the end of the song would have made it a phenomenal track.
The next two songs on this four-track affair come and go like the wind through the leaves; I gained nothing while listening to these tracks. “Created Enemies” has a few decent guitar riffs, but the uninspired drumming completely detracts from the song. One can rely on D-Beat drum beats only for so long before people want something new. “Danger” is slightly more interesting, with ominous strings that liken it to symphonic black metal. However, the song ends without pretense–an irritating pattern that plagues the entire album.
The album closes with “Cemetery Feeling.” This song is better described as an incantation, with unabashedly screeching guitars and pained screams. Their energy is relentless, freely flowing, and the passion never becomes overbearing. The song doesn’t overstay it’s welcome; it ends abruptly, only 90 seconds long, leaving me wanting a better conclusion to the angry typhoon that I just barely survived.
At about eight minutes, Insomnia is a blistering sample of Elizabeth’s sound, but it is not quite enough to get me very excited for what is to come. There’s definitely serious potential on this release: good instrumentation, and a good taste in influences. However, this album is lacking in its song composition. It needs a little more “oomph” with the instrumentation, and more variation (every song is the exact same tempo). Still, be on the lookout for the French menaces of Elizabeth; hopefully, in the future, their material will be more captivating.
Insomnia is out on December 15, 2013.
