20100708

I Witness
s/t CD
They Live! Records | Road To Freedom | + more
I Witness is a fucking fantastic band name. I really like the band names that include the 'I' word in them. Do you remember I Adapt from Iceland, New York's I Object or I Defy from Germany? I dunno but this 'I + verb' style of band name is a bit intriguing for me.
Nevertheless, I was thinking of not reviewing this record, because is old enough; it was released in 2009, while I Witness have already released a new album called 'All roads lead to Southeast', plus a split 7" with Slapedenhonden (WAK co-released the Slapedenhonden / Tinner split 7", by the way). Moreover, they, recently, uploaded in their blog a link including their summer 2010 demos, entitled 'Secret Handshakes'.
But I changed my mind, so here we are!
So, first things first. I Witness come from Southeast Siberia / Russia, and they sing in their native language.
Their first self-titled CD includes 9 songs of a weird mixture of hardcore / crust /post-hardcore and modern hardcore / punk stuff, all melted together. I guess that some bands that have influenced I Witness are Fall Of Efrafa, Ictus, From Ashes Rise and Tragedy, while modern hardcore bands like Verse, Modern Life Is War and Have Heart have influenced them a lot, as well. It's a strange mixture, considering the fact that they sing in Russian language, but it's really interesting and groundbreaking, though.
I really like their lyrics, as well. There are translations in the nice insert of the folded case (awesome artwork), along with the original lyrics.
All in all, a very nice record. I'm looking forward to hearing their new record, as well.
www.myspace.com/iwitnessrus
www.iwitnesshc.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/xroadtofreedomx
www.myspace.com/theyliverecords