First off, I want to address the absolutely stunning album art.
The way the picture is as a whole as well as the division it shows is the perfect visual representation for the songs and the bands themselves. It seems to me the artist must have heard the E.P a whole bunch and slowly pieced it together, it looks very well thought out and planned and the bonus is you can buy a mini poster of it in each band merch store! I personally plan on getting mine professionally enlarged because something as awesome and detailed should be bigger because it is something I could look at all day.
Now, onto the tunes!

First up is Haunted Shores tracks “When In Oslo” and my personnal favorite, “Sentient Glow”. Haunted Shores are fast, shreddy, melodic guitars and groovy/jazz/thrash drum line. “Experimental Thrash” I feel would be the best way to describe their sound.

“When In Oslo” kicks off with Chris Barretto’s Randy Blythe-esque vocals and a sporadic melody of guitars with groovy and jazzy drums. I loved this song after the first three seconds. No shit. At first though I wasn’t too keen on Chris’s clean vocals but they definitely grew on me and now I feel they really do fit.  His lyrical approach is now easier to understand after doing my interview with him and Mark a few weeks back. I personally interpret the lyrics as having a sort of  ”carpe diem” tone to them which I really like but the interpretation really depends on the listener. “Sentient Glow” shows a more calm version of Haunted Shores’ sound and I LOVE THIS SONG! Again, it’s groovy and thrashy but at times calms right down and sounds clean and smooth. This song is the best song to accompany the left half of the album art because like water, it can be violent yet calm.  These two tracks are also to be featured on their debut full length along with songs that according to their facebook are “slow and  groovy”. It will most likely become one of the top albums of the season (early fall target date) if not the year.

O.K next up is Cyclamen!
I will admit at first, I didn’t really like these two songs but after giving them a solid chance they really are pretty good. Think Sikth meets J-Rock. Yep. Japanese Rock. Who knew! Crazy sporadic metal one minute and total shift to the j-rock in an instant. They manage to pull it off pretty well and you gotta give credit where credit’s due. Their second track, “Let Go” focuses more on the metal and not so much on the j-rock influence. Cyclamen are very creative but most definitely an acquired taste.

I find it amazing that two bands from two ends of the earth can create similar music with distinct differences and manage to find each other and do a split and to top it off, have the perfect visual aid for the audio. Both bands are tapping the same infinite stream of creative energy. Their music compliments one another perfectly.

Keep an eye on these bands as they are bound to turn heads and open minds.
Haunted Shores: 9/10
Cyclamen: 6/10

• Link: http://www.myspace.com/hauntedshores