The debut album from upstart Burning Records, Ears to the Ground is a good beginning. A lot of work was put into this disc, and it features medium to high quality production values and great packaging: nice graphics, very informative, etc. Billed as "Local Bands. Solid Music." Burning Records delivers on their promise, and does indeed bring us a solid sampling of the PA underground scene, with three songs from almost every band (eight bands, 19 songs).
Vessel kicks things off with some brutal new school hardcore, and shines brightest on Calloused, which has good tempo variety. Children of Promise offer up some metal riffs, sometimes smooth, sometimes stiff transitions, and interesting instrumental/vocal/effect experimentation. You Still Remain isn't mixed quite right, but is a really cool song with moderately used electronic elements. Brokenfree's Divine has a really nice Metallica meets Prayer Chain intro, but kind of disintegrates when the screaming enters. Both Children of Promise and Brokenfree show a LOT of promise in the ingenuity department, though. Undermind's Falling Deeper has a Marilyn Manson vibe to it. Indiana show us love with indie-rock riffs that bleed into mature, conservative emo ballads. One Last Thing Before You Go has an interesting guitar lead, with vocals in the Grey Am/Mid Carson July arena. EIC start out pretty generic, but then throw in some wacky breakdowns. They rate pretty high on the likability scale for character and interesting songs that screw with you just when you start to get bored. Something to Fight For is another interesting hardcore/punk band that mixes old school vox and tempos with some new school riffs. Kind of a raw One21 or a toned down Subterfuge. Eephus wraps things up with Nothing, a fairly generic Spirit-filled hardcore sample, paying loose tribute to Focused.
Overall, this is definitely an impressive indie comp, especially for a debut. I recommend that you check it out.
