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Time Traveller

Morla And The Red Balloon

Written by: BL on 01/02/2014 00:14:49

Time Traveller is the solo project of a producer in Florida called Cameron Mizell who owns Chango Studios. From the list you can see he was behind albums from Sleeping With Sirens, Memphis May Fire, Woe, Is Me, and a whole line of similar post-hardcore/metalcore bands. For better or worse the albums he and Chango Studios tends to produce all have a distinctive sound that is instantly recognisable, though is often accused of making too many bands sound alike sonically. Time Traveller's debut EP "Morla And The Red Balloon" is indeed at times ridiculously polished, and has essences of predictable styles of many of the bands he has worked with, but ends up being a bit more creative and enjoyable than you may think.

Across the six tracks to be found on the EP, the guitars range from the standard fare to mildly experimental post-hardcore riffs. "500ml" and "Salt And Vinegar" make great use of dischorded melodies and interesting dynamics where there's a sprawl of frantic notes on the latter that is unusual for this type of genre. That said, you won't be hearing any virtuoso soloing or overly mathematical rhythms, but nonetheless Cameron does enough for each song to have it's own identity with a mix of confined influences. While some tracks do unfortunately include cheap and tacky dubstep beats here and there, most of other electronica and background samples help add a sense of playfulness. The clean vocals are perhaps the best aspect of Time Traveller though, as Cameron seems like a very accomplished singer with a high range and even adds in subtle vibrato. Many of the choruses are very catchy like on "Super Alcalina" featuring a short but sweet guest from Tyler Carter and on "Salt And Vinegar". His harsh vocals are sadly not nearly as impressive as he doesn't sound like the most natural screamer. When the screams are put next to the more bland chugging instrumentals, heavier moments on a track like "Rokit Man" (which features Matty Mullins of Memphis May Fire) seem quite a bit more lacking compared to more straightfoward pop orientated songs like "Cmizell928" (which happens to be Cameron's twitter name).

"Morla And The Red Balloon" will likely interest mostly fans of the bands Cameron has produced as you will notice striking similarities throughout. If you can get past that, there are a few really worthwhile tracks to check out. The short play length also makes the EP easy listening and some of the songs have hooks and melodies even better than a lot of the bands he produces, which is probably appropriate given the mediocre standard a lot of bands in this scene set themselves towards. A Time Traveller full length would be a much welcomed next step.

Download: 500ml, Super Alcalina, Salt And Vinegar
For the fans of: Memphis May Fire, Palisades, Sleeping With Sirens, Broadway
Listen: Facebook

Release date 17.12.2013
Rise Records