Through connections or whatever, this tiny little Jersey act somehow snagged Jesse Cannon (Northstar, Escape Engine, the Menzingers) to produce their three-song demo and mega-star Alan Douches to master it. While the music itself isn't incredible, it sounds perfect and clearly the band is super promising.

Picture if you will an incredibly downbeat and more bizarre-sounding Days Away. That's roughly what Royal Crime Syndicate do here, with some post-punk texturing and lazy, slurred vocals over caustic, depressing arrangements. Riffs constantly cascade, filling the atmosphere -- there's not a whole lot of space given away, but it makes for a dark, melancholy listen anyway. After all, the first line of the CD is "hey man, are you hanging on?," sung suggestively in "Merrily, Merrily." The last song, the slower-tempoed "The Madman," is slightly more upbeat, and even then it seems to be cautious about it.

Royal Crime Syndicate have definitely sown the seeds for something special to grow here. They got the right men to make their early work sparkle here, now they just need to scrub hard themselves for the next venture.

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Demo