Affinity – Self Titled EP
Metal has developed a lot of different versions of itself. There are such a wide variety of subgenres within metal it can get very confusing, and it leads to the question of whether something can be considered metal or not. Personally metal will only ever be Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and Sabbath to me. Really the debate is pointless but it has caused a lot of discussion. Affinity falls into this category of debate, but for the purposes of this review I will completely ignore classifying it.
Affinity’s first self-titled EP has a surprising sound to it. There are times when has nearly maidenesque solos, other times that sounds almost identical to Paramore, and other times closer to Evanescence. They may not seem that far off from each other but you can hear the differences in the EP. For the most part it sounds so similar to these things that it doesn’t seem like they are trying anything new. Also they don’t always blend together, sounding a little scattered at times; but they pull it off on a few songs. Take for instance the opening track Second Chance, the first half of it sounds like a Paramore song, yet once the solo kicks in it sounds like Maiden. It seems kind of strange, a little scattered but it still works on some level.
The vocals need to be mentioned at one point. The singer Ashley Curtis has an amazingly powerful voice. The lyrics aren’t exactly imaginative, but she could sing the script to Gigli and I’d listen. Also when the male and female vocals mix it turns out crazy well, but they are also good to not over do it with the harmonies only happening in a few tracks.
Even though the album doesn’t seem to do anything to different most of the time, but a few times they do and when they do it is good. The ambient filler song on the album, “Reflection”, is really good. It has a slight little build in it that leads into the last track “Running From My Mind,” which may not seem like much, but when the rest of the album just goes from song to song this small transitional song works crazy well. They also vary the track “shift,” which doesn’t just use distorted guitar, messing around with bass and simple ambient stuff, and sounding almost like Solar Powered People. It is the best song on the album, and its because its different.
Affinity – Second Chance
Affinity – Shift
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