CD BABY
Reviewer: Aaron Canada
Melodic and Tantric with Mind Bending Intensity
My friend got me interested in AVSA when we went to one of their shows. I fell in love with the screaming intensity of the vocals, the pounding bass, and the Mind-Bending guitar. My favorite track is track 9, "The End is Hear." The cd is great, hope to see many more.
FIREWORKS MAGAZINE (UK)
Reviewer: Nicky Baldrian
If your a fan of guitar work mixed with a bit of modern rock then you may find this independent release entertaining. The first song ''Fiji Theme' is a strange instrumental played by the bands guitarist Jeff Roop who also handles vocal duties. Roop's voice is similar to Lemmy from Motorhead, the first song proper 'Crimson' could almost be a detuned speed metal song, it's not bad and the chorus is quite catchy. The albums pace jumps up and down offering more of the same throughout that very rarely cacthes fires and
makes you go wow. There are a few selected tracks that bring to mind Steve Vai's 'Flex-able' era such as the afforementioned 'Fiji Theme', but for the most part the album fails to ignite my musical fires, but if your a fan of the modern rock scene then you may enjoy this.
KOLBOLT BLEW
by Marissa Spalding
(a debut cd from a band that refuses to announce guitar rock is dead)
Not long after I headed into the first live set that Isaw these guys in, I was moved to uncover a sound that is beyond personal definition. This melodic, drum beat, vocal overture sweep up where the blankets on cold nites can never warm you, a sound that permenates both a lonely soul against a man so enraptured in a sunset he burns his eyes on the beauty. The fourth track on the album, "Suffering," is driven at a rapid pace full on emotion and classic drum overload. "Suffering" has an erie sort of piano cry that seeps in and out of the song, the vocals are kept under low, and the drum machine, yes boys and girls a drum machine, accompaines the hardcore vein of the melting guitar and lush bass synth. "Staring deep into eyes that'll make you cry," resounds in the lyrical delivery, then the line of, "pretty girls make graves..." --a morrissy song by the way and a damn good one at that. "So Much for the Happy Ending," track 3, is the pop/indie-esque entry. The vocals remind me of the off canter style Sonic Youth have perfected. The tirade of guitar rawk in this song is lengthy and satisfying. "The End is Here," track 9 also an instrumental, contains pulsating light in the far distance with reflections of the moon in the escalating urgency found in the guitar and the drum feels as though the push when you are waiting for someone who will never show. Climax reaches birth at 6:00 minutes into the drum beat--climbing over top whirling winds. The sort of fire pulse that comes from years of battered emotions you begin to fill into the whirpool when it is over you feel only what is left of what may be. "Farewell," the last song on the album, is placed with an almost mistaken identity, and yet concurs the guitars intrinsic value to the music on this album, and to the art of what well written musical compostions should attest to. Burning guitar, over the strummed chords is center of the beauty in the undertone of the lyrical testament in "Farewell." Another shine to this debut is the band involved, guys with senses of humor, creative sparks left and right and willing to make music for the sake of all humanity.
