Like Moths to Flames – Sweet Talker EP
Record Label: Rise
Release Date: December 14, 2010
Rising from the ashes of Agraceful, Like Moths to Flames is the return of Chris Roetter, known for his vocals on Emarosa’s This Is Your Way Out and as the lead vocalist of now defunct Agraceful. Melding his back breaking screams from TIYWO and his melodic worship ideals surrounding The Great I Am, Roetter takes control of Like Moths to Flames at full force. Nonetheless, an obvious hindrance to Sweet Talker as a whole is the total lack of any innovation, as LMTF’s sound is nearly identical to all heavy acts on Rise.
The opening “Your Existence” kicks off with Lance Greenfield’s double bass drums and the drop tuned guitars of Zach Huston and Aaron Evans before Roetter’s screams clear the air. The guttural screams of “this world is mine!” stand out, as there’s no question that Roetter can clearly scream his lungs out. While musically and vocally this has been done countless times before, at least autotune isn’t used as a crutch – or any electronics for that matter. “Real Talk” channels labelmates Of Mice & Men and propels Agraceful-esque clean vocals amid deafening screams.
Exemplifying the pleasant nature of Roetter’s clean vocals, “Death Cup” is a raw cut, driven by bombastic drumming. “Bloodsport” is just that – a bloodbath – whereas the final “Dead Routine” doesn’t stray from the path Sweet Talker has paved, at all. Blending screams with singing again, “Dead” doesn’t really add anything new to the table, ending the EP on a decent at best note. As the final screams fade, it’s clear that Like Moths to Flames inevitably bring nothing new to the scene – either musically or creatively – but with all the experience of their vocalist from his prior projects, perhaps the future will allow LMTF to expand and evolve. Perhaps.
It's sad, because Chris (and this band overall) seems like it could very easily be pretty damn talented. They need to get off Rise, move to something closer to Equal Vision, and expand.
This EP is terrible. Chris has fallen so far. When he tries to sound emotional it's this really cool sounding scream, like he's about to sob. Then he goes back into trying to sound like For the Fallen Dreams, which every Rise band is trying to do it seems. If the music wasn't terribly generic I'd enjoy it a lot more.
And I like the demo version of Dead Routine more as well. I quite dislike the production on his vocals.
Haven't listened yet, but I'll be checking this out. I loved Agraceful and his voice -- but mostly his cleans. Seems like he doesn't use it as much on this EP.
it's meh. sorta disappointed with this EP. both Agraceful and TerraFirma have better songs. also it would be nice to see Aaron fronting this band, having Chris play bass and backing cleans/screams instead. i dig Aaron's screams a bit more.
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