Posted on: March 17, 2010 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Guiltmaker – Driven By Arms / 4 Tracks / 2006 Kiss of Death / http://www.myspace.com/guiltmaker / >http://www.kissofdeathrecords.com / Reviewed 10 July 2006

Guiltmaker is an act that is comprised of members of Combatwoundedveteran and Reversal of Man, but is something that is drastically different than either of those acts. In fact, a track like “Connected” has much more to do with the emo acts out on the market now than the insane noise and rough sound of Guiltmaker’s precursor acts.

The band still comes out with the same solid sound that one comes to expect from individuals with their musical pedigree; a song like “Silent Eyes” is dense as a black hole. The emotive content may sound like the more current iteration of the genre, but the emotional content and complexity of arrangements hearkens back to the days of Deep Elm, when they still had acts like Lewis and The Appleseed Cast. “The Current” is straight-forward, a ploy to get their names in light. However, this is not a ploy that is full of hot air, as the strong instrumentation of previous tracks is still present. The bass still chugs along and the guitars and drums struggle in a valiant fight to overthrow the vocals on the track. Each of the songs on “Driven By Arms” may only be four minutes, but the diversity of each of Guiltmaker’s compositions makes the songs on the disc feel as if they are miniature epics. The band may sound nothing like the two acts that Guiltmaker was formed from, but this different sound is exciting and reinvigoration for the band members themselves and for the emo genre, which is going more and more into self-parody and re-hashing old leads.

“Mark The Walls” is the final track on “Driven By Arms”, and it is more of the same by Guiltmaker. Each track can and should be listened to a number of times, as more and more will reveal itself to listeners with subsequent listens. In fact, “Mark The Walls” has so many things going on during its four minutes that it threatens to rend my mind in twain. Guiltmaker may not be as aurally ferocious as their predecessor bands, but they put up blow for blow in regards to the fierceness of the arrangements on their respective discs. I want to hear how Guiltmaker takes on a full length album; I have no doubt that the band will be able to make an album that is easily the equivalent to anything that modern legends Desert City Soundtrack has came out with.

Top Track: Mark The Walls

Rating: 7.7/10

[JMcQ]

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