A while back a song called "Harloton" bounced off me and stuck. It had a great metal feel with a new emo-progressive sound. It sounded like what Pierce The Veil could do at their best, but this came off better. Rena Surrenders have changed their sound a bit since going for that more melodic feel, but they've continued to play off Eric Rice's nasally, whiny (and I mean that with no disrespect) vocals.

It's that generic voice that so many of these...metalcore...whatever...these so-many bands these days are doing. Thing is, Rice manages to add just the extra touch needed with the backing of Peter Blanchet's guitars to pull of a solid three-tracker.

The EP's got a nice varied tone to it. "Throat" gives that harder and more aggressive sound that I knew them to be associated with, and this also gives Evan McDougal time to shine on the drums, and he crashes it nicely. "Instability" and "Eidolon" add that more melodic sound that fans of Saosin and A Lot like Birds could probably get into. Rice's voice would probably get lost in the muddle of all the other bands that sound similar, but this quartet has a bit more technical prowess to them that makes me hope they land something bigger someday, as there's great potential found in just under 10 minutes.

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