Posted on: October 8, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

The Challenger Deep – S/T / 2007 Self / 5 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/thechallengerdeep

The Challenger Deep introduce themselves with “Historian”, a track that has a very tempestuous and chaotic flow. In a way, the instrumentation that takes place before the vocals kick in seem like a more jacked up version of At The Drive-In. The style of The Challenger Deep is not easy to categorize. There are hints of hardcore, hard rock, metal, and even grunge and punk in the band’s thrashy, gritty style. “Convent Station” removes some of this grit and focuses the band energy into something that resembles some of the Dischord post-punk, as well as The Replacements and Husker Du.

Essentially, what The Challenger Deep do with “Convent Station” is create something that sounds as if Refused was good. It is almost unfortunate that the band did not adorn the EP more than they did (it has an outline of an arcade cabinet); if individuals had more of an idea about the music that was contained on this disc, I would bet that The Challenger Deep could sell more copies of this EP. Each track showcases something new about the band, “Bad News” moves into the realm of The Lemonheads; while still having the swirling guitars of “Convent Station”, the stressed and strained vocals present give a much different overall demeanor to the track.

The band ends their efforts on this self-titled EP with “Cipher”. While “Cipher” uses pretty much the same sounds and styles present on earlier tracks on this EP, the progression of the guitars during this track are a sight to behold. It seems as if the guitarist is not doing anything more than playing scales, but they polish off the track in such a way to provide an emphatic exclamation mark to what is a fucking excellent EP. I’ll have to keep checking up on The Challenger Deep.

Top Track: Cipher

Rating: 7.2/10

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