They Died Too Young - D.N.A Neglects Demo By Nick Cobley Pictures by Michelle Dee

Upon starting the D.N.A Neglects demo CD the first thing I noticed was the production quality which sounds excellent. With prices of recording being really high as always, it made me think they must have spent a lot of time and effort on this. The first track is Hanger Lane it starts with clean guitars, and I think I can even hear an acoustic in the build up to the verse. Throughout this build up there is a constant change in the sounds of the guitars. The riff that opens the song reminds me of the typical indie style of music which is not particularly a bad thing.

Most indie I find, can be quite boring, the riff on this opening song is quite off beat with the drums which makes it a lot more interesting to listen to.

As soon as the vocals kick in, the first band I thought of was Billy Talent which I later changed my mind on. The guitars play some nice harmonics over each other and the whole blend of instruments comes together very nicely. I thought it was a good choice of song to start the EP with.

The second song named Await Instruction caught my attention more as the vocal pattern was very catchy, although sometimes its difficult to hear what is actually been sang, i would have liked a lyric sheet in front of me, as the parts I could hear sounded very meaningful to the lyricist. The guitars in this song sound heavier to me, with the vocals matching their aggression at some points.

I would have said this song is the most original, thoughts of The Hives and a mixture of Thursday crossed my mind, which are two completely different sounding bands, so that was quite good to hear. The song ends with different guitar and bass effects to make a sort of 'haunting wind' sound, very effective!

The third and final song named Levi Tac I felt was a lot calmer. The guitar riffs were more constant, rather than changing rapidly throughout the song like in the previous too. Saying that however, half way through the song, there is a total change of direction, which almost sounds like a different song. The guitars go to clean, then there's a nice build up on the drums to bring it back to life which sounded really good.

All in all, I enjoyed listening to the CD, which I was surprised at as I am drifting more towards metal and hardcore music. The sound these guys have is quite individual at times, they also remind me of other bands on the market today, which should be taken as a compliment. I would like to see a live performance, so if they get down to Hull I will be there. For fans of Taking back sunday, The Kinison, Thursday, The Hives, the arctic monkeys. Read Michelle Dee's review of They Died Too Young with The Dirty Dreamers at Lark In The Park, Islington www.theydiedtooyoung.com

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