3 out of 5

Label: Cenotaph Audio, Version City

Produced by: Andy Wright (engineered and mixed)

I have almost sold System 2 no less than 3 times.  I’m pretty sure it made its way into the actual stack brought to a store more than once, only to be passed over and wind up back in my collection (and, indeed, I think I bought it from a dollar bin) and given another spin at some point, a shrug, and then never listened to again until I’m combing my albums for sells.  So what is it?  It has hallmarks of something I’d dig: a unique and harsh recording style; Dazzling Killmen stop/start dynamics; AoRish yelps…  And come to think of it, perhaps that’s exactly What It Is: these are the things that make the grade upon re-listens, as opening track (post an instrumental lead-in) Camera Bloody Camera makes clipped, to-the-point use of these elements and thus leaves an impression.  But What It Isn’t is an album that, beyond this impression, offers any surprises.  Wright’s production, which boils everything down to an electronic-sounding level – the bass especially sounds like it was born out of a keyboard (and maybe it was, with Steve Moore both on ‘electric bass’ and ‘processors’) – and then gives these digital samples to dirty punk kids to toss at speakers is this shocking violent / static mix but the effect is on the surface: most of the tracks pull the same ‘slam on the guitars and drums and here’s oddball key-noodling while I talk about something’ arrangement.  Which always seems silly to criticize since most bands are guilty of doing the same things over and over, but a passionate band brings momentum to every instance of that and a in-tune producer then knows how to milk that for ultimate effect.  In other words: you shouldn’t realize it’s all the same.  But with Microwaves, you do.  The tepid ‘comment on class and money and government’ style lyrics also don’t support a sense of oomph; they’re rather tepid in comparison to the gristle the music’s trying to bring to the speakers.

This being their first album, it’s entirely possible M.Waves found a slightly more streamlined version of their sound instead of, perhaps, trying to ape influences.  The untitled tracks in the middle of the disc, both instrumental, are the most compelling (beyond the opener) as it seems like the group viewed them as interludes and so are content with phasers on stun instead of kill.  This sense of patience (and maybe lack of vocals) makes the compositions feel richer, taking advantage of the production instead of just trying to sound weird.

Definitely interesting and probably a great opener for better groups, just not necessarily a memorable listen.