Music Video: Press to Meco’s Affinity

Tech emo mentalists Press to Meco have returned with another video for ‘Affinity’ from their EP that also shares the same name. I’m not entirely sure why they’ve made another video for the track but as someone has already mentioned maybe this is because the original video was a little more “adult” and wouldn’t get shown on daytime television.

Regardless, here’s the new video that you should probably watch because Press to Meco are bloody ace:

If you want to watch the original version to compare then you can also see that here:

Review: Stallone’s Mire

I don’t know what it is in the hardcore community that makes bands want to up their technicality to preposterous levels of techy, prog goodness but I love that it keeps happening. Coming across like a hybrid of Pariso and Palm Reader, Stallone have burst out of the gates with their debut mini-album ‘Mire’ and it’s a seriously impressive piece of tech-core (you watch, it’ll catch on).

Stallone’s modus operandi is to make screamy hardcore punk filled with twists and turns and song structures that evolve and never return to the same melody twice. Mire is an extremely demanding release to listen to but there’s never a dull moment. For example, semi-title track ‘In The Mire’ puts forward an entire album’s worth of riffs in its 2 and half minute song length and it makes for an absolutely frantic listening experience.

What helps Stallone’s quest for all the riffs is that every one they put on display is pretty memorable in its own right. In fact, some of the riffs are unnecessarily catchy and make me want to get out on the dance floor like the groovy lick at the start of ‘They Drew’. There’s a huge amount of variety and diversity on ‘Mire’ and while it’s consistently wild and noisy, it’s always engaging to listen to.

The only real negative I can throw at this release is that if you take the songs alone they can suffer from not sounding particularly cohesive. Without returning melodies or choruses, the songs rely on their pace and sheer volume of ideas to engage the listener but this does have an unfortunate side effect of making the entire 25 minutes of ‘Mire’ sound like an unruly mash-up of ideas.

Thankfully, the riffs and intensity of the release make up for the fact that some listeners might have a hard time listening to songs that lack a central hook. If you like your music fast, interesting, tight and loud then Stallone have you covered. ‘Mire’ is a hugely impressive mini-album that is stuffed with an over-abundance of ideas and riffs that fans of both tech-metal and hardcore punk will find a joy to listen to.

8/10

Stallone’s Mire is released on 12″ black vinyl through Tangled Talk Records and Enjoyment Records on October 7th.