Reviver's Versificator provides straightforward modern hardcore with the occasional creative flourish. With the subtle spate of melody and a weirdly moody dynamism here that adds optimistic shades amid an otherwise darker record, one can pick up on given influences like Kid Dynamite ("Antennas"), From Anger and Rage-era Verse ("Bukowski," "The Giver") and American Nightmare (...well, I've seen them cover "AM/PM" live), but Versificator never really sounds that much like any one given band. It's a mostly unique debut just in need of greater depth, scope, and maybe hooks, too.

While there's certainly room for improvement, there's spots where the band do impress and promise much greater compositional flow somewhere down the line. There's the mid-tempo, emotionally and musically crumbling finish to "West on 66" that might be the album's best moment. A meaty buildup in "Everywhere Leads Nowhere," with a better producer and more precise playing, would be wholly effective; as is, it sounds a little sloppy but certainly fierce and earnestly played -- and it flows into "Winston Smith' quite well. The brief opening riff of "Fortunes" bites that of Crime in Stereo's "Gravity/Grace" quite hard, but we'll let it slide.

The vocals are a little low in the mix too, but it's hard to draw too many criticisms with this album, as it's an otherwise pretty urgent and sprightly debut that may be worth checking out.

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8 of Versificator's 10 tracks