Drowningman Still Loves You

The most consistent Drowningman release to date, this five song EP is a must-own for any hardcore listener. Some fans of the group have compared this one to the group's earlier EP, 'Busy Signal At The Suicide Hotline', and it would be hard to disagree. Either way you slice it though, 'Still Loves You' is a cut above their previous full-length ('Rock & Roll Killing Machine ') which was a great record in its own right. Although Drowningman has always found a nice balance between restrained technicality and unpredictable chaos, they truly seem to have their niche, adding an extra dimension of melody to their tongue-in-cheek material. Simon Brody really displays his versatility on this one, comfortably belting out his forceful screams, but also providing some solid rock-styled singing, which he's done before, but with less effectiveness. A lot of hardcore bands have been applying emo to their music lately, but it still sounds a bit contrived in most cases. I wouldn't call anything Drowningman does emo, but there is a healthy dose of mellow stuff here. If you listen to "The Unbearable Burden of Always Being Right," an amazing track, you'll find that Drowningman has actually become quite skilled at adding non-hardcore ingredients to their material, without sounding desperate or cliched. More importantly, they still know how to rock out. From the killer bridge in "Weighted And Weighed Down," a track which appeared on their first 7" in 1997, to the blistering opener, "The More I Get To Know You The Less I Like You," there is still plenty of heavy stuff on here. The song titles aren't quite as clever as they've been in the past, but then again, how many amazing song titles can one man think of? We'll get over it. The fact is, Drowningman is at the top of their game right now. I'm anxious to hear if they can pull this off again for an entire full-length, so we'll see what happens. Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls of being at the top of one's game is that there's no where to go but down. Hopefully, Drowningman will hang around the "top" for a few more records.