BEARS IN THE YUKON

You.may.Die.In.The.Desert is an impatient band that doesn't like to see people waiting for the good part of the song to happen. With the release of Bears In The Yukon the band made a name in the same side as bands like Irepress, Joy Wants Eternity, Russian Circle and Gifts From Enola. The difference is that Y.M.D.I.T.D sacrifices a bit of power for complexity unlike the others who have a 50-50 approach to it. This isn't really a bad thing since Prog Rock and Math Rock fans may find this even more enjoyable than the previous bands mentioned.

This EP is around 30 minutes in length and the music is very dynamic in sound and song structures. The varying shifts in tempo and time sigs are a warm welcome in a genre that's mostly focused on melody and simplicity. The bad thing with it is that the music's pretty monotonous and the music doesn't change much in mood or atmosphere. The most grating thing about their music is the excessive use of echo in the guitar. Surely I can enjoy it being used a couple of times, but on the whole album?! Sadly this, along with the monotony in the atmosphere, ruined the album for me. The songs are great and the members play the music perfectly, but I can't get passed those details and enjoy the music.

If you can get passed the monotony and annoying echo throughout the whole duration of the album there's great music to be heard, but for me this is an effort that I hope the band will improve on. The bands shows great potential, but a little variety wouldn't hurt.