The Beautiful Ones - Birth Of Desire

The Beautiful Ones are a metallic hardcore band out of Mesa, Arizona. Their sound captures the heaviness of bands such as Merauder and Cruel Hand, while still retaining melody in both vocals and guitar parts. After releasing a demo in 2011 and playing Sound and Fury, we have their debut 7" on 6131 Records entitled Birth Of Desire.

Right off the bat is a groovy, heavy chord progression on the opener "Can't Stand The Sight Of Me." The verses build and build into the chorus, which is infectious and memorable with the lyrics "I can't stand the sight of me/If there's been no sign of you." After the last chorus is a bridge into the breakdown, which consists of a relatively typical pattern rhythmically. However, one guitar layers tense arpeggiated chords in which makes it more memorable.

For me, "True To Me" suffered an identity crisis. The beginning sounded a lot like earlier Fire & Ice. However, the choruses were one of my favorite of the 7." It's the first time we get to hear the sang vocals, and I dig them. Sometimes I can't stand bands who shout then sing, but both sound really good in this case. The first breakdown on this track is incredibly heavy, and it's hard not to note how good this record sounds quality-wise. The guitar tones are heavy and crunchy but still warm, the bass is booming, and the drums are clear ever. Guest vocals are provided in the buildup before the outro of the song, a groovy two-step progression.

"1" was a filler song in my book. Nothing really stood out to me, there wasn't anything that I hadn't already heard from them. It wasn't bad necessarily, just not as memorable as the other songs.

4th up is the title track "Birth Of Desire." Another heavy riff accompanied by arpeggiated chords is utilized in the intro. The catchiest part of the whole 7" is here in my opinion, with the lines "You've become a slave to lust/I'm sorry of what I've done." This sets the tone of the whole song in being incredibly dark but still melodic. We also see the most diversity in this song with more riffs, changes, and sang parts-which adds up to my favorite song of this EP.

Last is "Cut Me Out." At 3:56, it's the longest song out of the 5. For me, it was the most lacking as well. Compared to the other songs that really stood out, this one's just pretty standard. A mid-paced song with lots of gang vocals and relatively typical lyrics fade out into a less-than-spectacular ending to an otherwise stand-out debut.

Definitely check this record out if you like any of the bands in the "similar bands" section and give 'em a like on Facebook. The great moments in these tracks definitely outweigh the less-memorable ones. And obviously this review is off one person's opinion, maybe other people will love those two songs I wasn't a huge fan of. I'm definitely looking foward to what this band has in store in the near future, and any fan of hardcore should be too.

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