Everything In Slow Motion

Phoenix

Hands has always been known for their hard hitting, experimental rock, a similar vein to Between the Buried and Me. Screams are prevalent in most of their music, and more so in their 2011 record, Give Me Rest. That record also saw more of the experimental ambiance, clean singing and deep screams from vocalist Shane Ochsner. Since Hands disbanded, Ochsner hasn’t stopped writing new music. Rather, he’s been working on a project called Everything in Slow Motion, and the band continues the hardcore, experimental genre seen with Hands, but in a much more controlled and structured way.

Much of what Hands did on Creator was raw, and the songs lasted much longer than anything featured on the debut record from EISM. Phoenix sees Shane with a much better production crew (listen to the deep guitar tone on “Most Days” and tell me it’s not better) and focused sound all the way through the 10 track album. The deeper screams are largely gone (save for a few heavier parts throughout), but they’re replaced by hardcore element that we haven’t seen this good since the early days of Thrice. A track like “You Are” with its massive buildup to a soft bridge, before the alternative rock introduction is a perfect example of the beautiful sounds Shane can come up with, adding the raw screams in for good measure at the end.

Phoenix is an album full of hope, among all the despair and trouble in the world today. The nearly 7 minute epic “Numbers” is proof, with a solid chorus to the bridge of “Carry us home”, a similar battle cry reminiscent of Underoath’s perfect blend of metalcore. Only two songs out of the album are as long as this, and the music is much tighter than we’ve ever heard from Shane. From the ashes of Hands, comes a much more sophisticated and mature sound from Everything In Slow Motion. Everything that may have been wrong with Hands has been polished for the debut of Shane’s new band, and it’s definitely worth checking out.