Artist: Anam Cara
Album: Anam Cara (EP)
Label: Strike First
Tracks: 4
Length: 16:50
Reviewed By: Ben Bishop

 Signed to Strike First, a subsidiary of Facedown Records, Anam Cara assume the burden of proving they are not just another cookie cut of the soft, predictable dough from  which endless bands on those labels seem to have been baked.  Sure, everybody likes Shockwave because they wear ski masks on stage, but please explain to me why half the Facedown bands deserve to be paid money for the aural terrorism they inflict. 

Surprisingly, Anam Cara don’t suck.  Guitar work drives the album; reverb-drenched melodic interludes reminiscent of the late 7 Angels 7 Plagues Jhazmyne’s Lullabye serve as a respite to a handful legitimate riffs.  The axe-grinders do show a propensity for grabbing those strange, drop-D, I-made-it-up-in-my-basement-and-it-just-sounds-indie guitar chords which they may want to be careful not to overdose on, but all in all don’t spiral endlessly, thus avoiding dismantling the driving force behind several songs, particularly “Written on a cavern wall” which starts with the cd’s best riff.  Make no mistake, these boys have been listening to Hopesfall and Further seems forever, not Martyr AD or Misery Signals.  The music doesn’t charge anywhere, it reels, but not unpleasantly.

Boasting an uncharacteristically high production value for an amateur hardcore band, and a vocalist who doesn’t seem to be stuck in puberty or overdosing on creatine, these southerners at least make a case on this ep for their being allowed to stick around and show us what they’ve got with a full-length.