Fragile Hands

Between Here and Infinity EP

Written by: MBC on 01/04/2014 20:22:20

Fragile Hands is an American hardcore band based in Virginia and South Carolina. The band was formed in 2012 and released its debut EP this month entitled “Between Here and Infinity”. With only four songs with an average play time of about three minutes, there is not a lot of material on this EP to get to know the band. From having listened through this EP several times, it is clear however that this young band means business. They play aggressive and passionate melodic hardcore in the vein of Hundredth and Counterparts and the four songs on this EP are well-written and effective.

First track “The Act of Self Loathing” is the shortest on the EP lasting a little over 2 minutes. But what it lacks in length it makes up in passion. From the get-go it delivers pummelling hardcore which rivals a band like Terror in intensity. Vocalist Nick Matako has a commanding and emotional mid-to-high scream and he delivers a punishing performance of personal anguish on the song: “No home, no job, not even family, I turned to the bottle downing spirits in hopes to lift mine, but nothing could fill that void of hatred and disgust that I had with myself”.

Next song “Cold” continues in the same aggressive tone as the previous track, but soon goes into more melodic territory with dual vocals. As great as the screamed vocals are, the cleans lack some power and they seem rather unnecessary on the track, which already has plenty of melody. The band balances these melodies with punishing beatdown and fast parts in a dynamic mix that should please fans of various forms of hardcore. The track ends with an instrumental atmospheric outro which is a nice contrast to the otherwise aggressive nature of the song. It carries on into next track “Letdowns and Bad Habits”, which starts out with a few soft guitar chords while Matako screams over the track in a fashion similar to Being As An Ocean. It quickly picks up the pace into more of the band’s Hundredth-esque melodic hardcore. It is a really good track until more clean vocals are introduced to the mix and this time they really should not have been included. The term ‘clean’ is used in the broadest sense here, since they are off-key and once again do not really add anything interesting. A little better are the clean chorus-vocals on final track “Set Free”, which overall might be the most melodic track on the EP.

Overall “Between Here and Infinity” is a decent and fairly interesting effort that shows the song writing talents of Fragile Hands. It is however rather short and some parts need more work, especially the clean vocals, but it does show real potential and bodes well for a future full length release.

7

Download: The Act of Self Loathing, Set Free
For the fans of: Hundredth, Counterparts, Go Forth
Listen: Facebook

Release date 06.03.2014
Self released

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