milemarker

satanic versus

‘Ooohh, “Satanic Versus.”

For a rather intelligent and gifted group this feeble double entendre is appallingly inept and casts its members in a rather maladroit light.

What follows inside attempts to cut the cover’s losses and salvage seemingly lost ground.

The two-pronged meaning of the title may be mundane, but the two aspects of the album are redeeming. This EP contains six riveting tracks of electronic hybrid punk rock. In addition, the CD version of this EP is also enhanced.

The first segment of the enhanced portion contains three videos, which, for the most part, make up the better half of the EP. The videos are shot by amateurs and focus more on the musicians and the band’s stage energy. From this perspective, it is challenging not to notice the keyboardist Roby Newton, whose messy blonde hair completely covers her face at all times. Coupled with the geek-sheik glasses, she comes off as simultaneously elusive and alluring. By the time “New Lexicon,” the third video, began she was wearing only the glasses and two dollar-sized pieces of duct tape. The thought became inescapable that the guys in the band could not pull off this same stunt.

It’s hard to tell, but it also looks like Ozzy Osbourne is rocking out in the first row of fans in front of the stage.

The concept of putting the video for “New Lexicon” was a good idea. As just a song, it is both grueling and ghoulish. The visual piece provides more to be appreciated, on so many levels. It’s not that the song is bad, though. Rather, the band relies on computers and synthesizers too heavily at points, which make songs such as this come off as a bad dream Marilyn Manson might have. After watching the video, a phone call relaying the message “Seven days” seemed inevitable.

In addition to the eye candy, the enhanced portion also provides something for the creative ear. The audio files for “Join Our Party” and “Idle Hands” are available to anyone who feels the need to import them into a music program such as Pro Tools to remix them.

The music stands perfectly fine on its own, though. The guitars jangle in eerie complementation to the keyboards. In spite of all its angular dissonance, the music is very accessible. It’s only the vocals that hold back the band.

It might follow that awkward vocals would complement awkward music. After all, if Nation of Ulysses replaced Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra as Sinatra’s musical ensemble, the result would be catastrophic.

This basic equation does not always work for Milemarker, though.

At times, such as Roby’s interesting approach to an atonal Billie Holiday on the video to “The Installment Plan” works like a charm. The poppy Pavement-esque backup vocals to the otherwise screamo “The Banner to the Sick” are also a huge success. The remainder of the album, both auditory and visual, waxes and wanes in its attempts at brilliance.