room 14 - room 14

Room !4

Room 14
self-released; 2013

3.1 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Room 14 is made up two guys from Yanco, NSW who recently released their first EP entitled Room 14. The EP contains five songs that combines metal inspired riff, electronics, auto-tuned vocals into a lo-fi effort that is often held back by the production . The nasally  vocals sit on top of the music and are usually in desperate  need of  some reverb while the low end could have been more defined. 

“Gutless” is a rather graphic description of domestic abuse. The duo utilizes a canvas of electronic drums, distorted guitars and auto-tune from them to sing over. He sings “He kicks her down, leaves her to drown, choked up she can't make a sound. She's got no hope, the way he goes, breaking bones from head to toe. Bruises on her face, after every hit she takes, she gets back up to say - One day I'll get away.” The song has a bit of personality dsorder but has some decent moments in there.

“I Will Let You Down (I Promise)” busts open with an intense metal riff. The drums are programmed but effective against the whirling piano and distortion. The chorus ends up sounding more like something you would hear from Thirty Seconds From Mars. The vocalist sings “Throw me to the ground, walk away from this. I will let you down i promise. I could make you proud, but you won't notice. I will let you down i promise.” “Leaves” is about a hedonistic misogynist  while “Cause F*ck You That's Why” combines metal with r & b style type synths. The EP closes with the nine minute “The Thought of You” which is the biggest deviation from the album.  The song has some tender moments as well as an emotional anchor that wasn't apparent on the other songs. They ditch the guitar for piano and orchestral strings. As it progresses it goes in unexpected places and feels like the most thought out track.

This EP is a decent effort but also suffers from poor vocal performance and implementation. The duo has a decent foundation but need to work on mixing and production.

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