Yeah, despite Oscar asking me whether or not I have this band, I was actually completely unaware that I do. I have been contacted by Mark (guitar in "Ten Thousand Leagues" and a member of the "Kyeo Speaks" zine/distro) about posting this, but I kinda failed to reply since the e-mail came in the period of my sickness. Either way, here it is and I'm proud to have this release on my blog.
"Ten Thousand Leagues" is a quintet hailing from Southern California, more specifically Los Angeles. The band was born "prematurely" during spring 2010 and getting things in line by coming summer. So, we are dealing with an extremely young band, which makes this demo an even bigger wonder. To put it shortly, I was very impressed, basically I decided to put this up for reviewing after I heard the first track. My thoughts were that this will be some brutally raw demo, since the band doesn't even have a year under their belt, but this just blew my mind away.
The demo brings us five songs with nearly twelve minutes of tunes, making this quite a fast and speeding release. Describing what you hear on the demo is a bit of a hard task, since there is a vast number of elements flowing around. The base of it all, at least in my mind, is one very, very old screamo band which I love so damn much. "Fiction Like Non-Fiction". I don't know if this band was an influence to "Ten Thousand Leagues", but oh my, they sound like FLN-F on speed! Seriously now, if you know of the band then just imagine them being more aggressive and chaotic. Let me just be clear right now, this is by no means a bad thing, this demo struck me so furiously and instantly, it threw me back into my earlier screamo days and it really left me with a nostalgic sense in my mind.
Despite the fact that an influence source can be sensed heavily, this band took it and managed to twist it all into quite unique music. As I said, a lot is happening on this demo. Generally, the songs are fast-paced, but with various splashes of slower parts. The slower song sections are amazing in that the bass comes into the spotlight, unlike many bands which have a constant focus on the guitar or drums. Of course, sometimes the guitar takes the front row seat as well. Similarly, the already mentioned fast tempo parts also vary by song, sometimes being chaotically rending and other times having a slightly breakdownish tone. In contrast to the ever shifting melodies, the vocal performance is pretty much without variation, though I think of it as not a flaw, but a merit. It is a constant screaming vocal and it goes pretty well with both chaotic parts where it melds perfectly with the instruments, as well as with slower sections where it has a sort of distant feel and bearing the "gentle aggression" trait.
The only thing left to say in the end is just wow. I really didn't expect to come across a band of this caliber, since they blew me away and left me speechless.Trust me on this when I say that this is perfect. My sincere hope is that they will stick around for a while and grant us some more musical enjoyment. Visit and write to them at their site found here. Enjoy!
thanks man! this review is such an honor!
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