Majhas - Stepping Into Character (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Majhas

Stepping Into Character (2003)

Hawthorne Street


Cute. The first song is entitled "Stepping Into..." while the last track is "Character." On the first listen, you get the feeling that Majhas is just another hadcore/hardcore-punk band trying to be slightly more artistic than the next guys, then you think....no, wait, they ARE just another hardcore/hardcore-punk band trying to be slightly more artistic than the next guys. But don't let that turn you off right away. They aren't bad.

Their problem is that they seem to just fall short behind other bands that have pioneered this sound first. The guitars are a little too muffled to hear the dissonance in their complicated chords clear enough the vocals are too forced so that they sound fake, the bass is repetitive and seems to ride the E string heavily, and the drumming is technically adept, but low-energy. All together, it seems a little bland compared to what it could be. Even the well-written bridges and breakdowns can't make up for these flaws. I think this band would be a lot better if they focused on rocking the shit out of everything instead of trying to artistic with including old records playing in the background, or slow, long intros. Just like Blackie Lawless said to the rest of W.A.S.P. (in reference to his exploding cod-piece), "You know, if we wrote better songs, we wouldn't have to do shit like this."

Better production would help this disc a lot. More time spent working the songs over I think would be a better use of time than recording extended intros and a 6 minute, 28 second "Intermission." I think this band shows promise to be a lot better than they are right now. I would like to see how they evolve as a band.