The first time I heard Mall'd to Death it was on The Punk Site when they hosted a stream of the 2010 album, Can't Make a Living. The album turned some heads and made some best of lists for 2010. But right off the bat, I wasn't convinced. I remember thinking, "Are these guys serious?" That being said, I came back for more, fell in love with their sound (and I feel the need to tell them via Twitter on a regular basis), and came to realize that they aren't always serious. The same can be said for their latest split label release on Geykido Comet Records and It's Alive Records, titled The Process of Reaching Out. Songs like "Hardcore 64" and "Spray Can Sam" are great examples of their tongue-in-cheek nature, as the songs are really love songs for the underground culture that the song's subjects pertain to (Nintendo 64 and a graffiti artist, respectively).

The trio does have a more serious side as well, and they show it with "Standard and Poor" and "Guilty of Being Black". My personal favourite from the 7", though, is "Migraine Belt", Tyler Barrett semi-abandons his signature vocal style to the point where it may take a good listen to realize it is him, but the song stays true to the style that is Malll'd to Death.

For those familiar with the group (and those not), The Process of Reaching Out does not stray too much from where they left off on Can't Make a Living. That's not a bad thing, either. The melodic riffs and straight-to-the-point songs get the job done in under a minute-and-a-half a piece, which is how they are able to put six songs on a 7". There isn't another group that I can think of that could accomplish what they do in that amount of time and not leave the listener feeling as if the there is some unfinished business. The one thing that this release does is leave me wishing for more, and easily gets an 8.5 out of 10.