Exactly seventeen seconds into the sweetly strummed intro to first track Given
comes a gut-wrenching heavy metal scream and the prospect of half an hour of Slipknot
vocals and RATM riffs is the best that can be expected. Which is why it's so surprising
and, dare I say refreshing, that it doesn’t materialise.
As Given continues, the painful intro subsides into a gentle but still full-sounding
verse with more than just a hint of Incubus – particularly in the vocals – and a guitar
crunch not too dissimilar to Radiohead's "Creep" announces the distortion heavy chorus, the
kind of which the Foo Fighters have made their own for the past decade. The band also
manage to match the Foos' ability to produce an insistent melody with the potential to stay
in the listener's head for days on end.
Second track Gone Away follows an almost identical structure to the preceding one – a
pleasant opening couple of bars interrupted by riffing guitars followed by a catchy verse and
heavy chorus. There is at least one specific difference though – the heavy metal scream that
we are treated to early on in the first track doesn’t appear until 2.27 on this one. The band
needs to question the wisdom of having these songs together on a demo when an alternate
tracklisting or perhaps even dropping one of the tracks altogether would make more sense.
Third track Pass You By is a much better advertisement for the band – a fantastic riff,
interesting vocal line and energetic pace make this the best song on the demo. Scattergun
lyrics about "metrosexual"s, "media-whore"s and how "your life will pass you by" sung in a
disdainful Robert Smith style are backed up well by infectious backing vocals and that superb riff.
The one blemish on an otherwise strand-out track is the scream that we are 'treated' to before
the solo - it sounds completely and utterly out of place on a track that hasn't sounded like a
metal track at any point so far. That the solo is yet another highlight on the track is almost
spoiled by the misplaced vocals.
Closing track This Time sounds like The Music might had they been metal fans – the main
riff here is vastly similar to their "Walls Get Smaller" track. The rest of the riffing is
sufficiently different enough to avoid any lawsuits though and it actually makes for a very
intriguing mix - the build up after the track stops halfway through is one of the highlights
of the entire EP.
Part-Time Superstar show on this demo that they have the ability to produce some top class
moments but also have an unfortunate penchant for vocal screams that don't fit in, and have
probably not thought about the tracklisting much. There is definitely enough to show what
good potential they have but unfortunately at this moment in time the band needs to spend
as much time ironing out their bad points as they do capitalising on their good ones.
