What you have to bear in mind when you listen to ‘Ulterior Motives’ is that this band are completely unsigned, and this is (as far as I can tell) their first ever release. With that in mind, you’ll see that the quality of this 3-track demo is frankly outstanding.
In fact, it is good by any standard. I can certainly think of numerous bands who have major record deals and who are a great deal inferior to ‘Cold Night For Alligators’. What we have, in fact, is an extremely talented group of young musicians who, as their Myspace says, ‘wish to present a different musical experience to the listener’.
To an extent, they have indeed achieved this. They certainly don’t fall simply into the standard musical brackets. However, they’re not so avant-garde that it’s like trying to put a square through a circle. They bear strong resemblance to numerous bands in the progressive or technical deathcore ‘arena’. They do, perhaps fall into the style that’s becoming known as ‘Sumericancore’ (named after the record label).
In Spite of this, though, we must remember that this is a first demo (did I mention it?). I’m fairly sure that even some of the best bands in the genre didn’t produce a demo tape quite as good as ‘Ulterior Motives’. There are obvious places for the band to improve, mostly in terms of making the transitions of riffs work better and layering some parts of some songs a little better, but these are all fairly easy to fix, and fixing them will make this band outstanding.
There is very noteworthy technical ability throughout this band, especially in the realm of lead guitars and vocals. With some refinement, and perhaps a little funding, I believe very strongly that ‘Cold Night For Alligators’ could be pioneering in the genre. Well worth grabbing this record so that in a few years time you can say ‘I knew them before they were famous’... and kind of mean it.
7/10
1. Tempus Fugit
2. Wonderland is in Your Body
3. Beward of the Horse
Visit their Myspace for a free, legal and high quality download.
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