Since By Man - A Love Hate Relationship

For a couple years now, I’ve been following Since by Man about as closely as one can follow a band without actually listening to their music. Because of all the positives I’ve read and the fact that they hail from my musically challenged home of Milwaukee (hell, throw in the rest of Wisconsin too), I have had a vested interest in their success. You could say I’ve been passively rooting for them while keeping my distance out of fear that I’ll find out they really suck, and Milwaukee will have to continue milking everything it can from the Violent Femmes. When the opportunity to review their latest EP came along, I decided it was high time to find out what they were all about. To say the least, A Love Hate Relationship turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Four songs running just short of 14 minutes doesn’t give very much to go on, but what is there shows little if any weaknesses. At gunpoint I’d probably label them as metal-core, but as with any “fill in the blank-” core band, it’s what comes after the hyphen that really matters, and this is heavy music for sure. But at the same time, it’s very loose and (dare I say) fun. It shakes and grooves all over the place, sticking more to metal’s reliance on melody than hardcore’s bent chaos – and done so without resorting to irony. Discernable choruses and tight rhythmic passages mix with wrenching vocals and bludgeoning beats to create quite an attractive beast. In short, they done me proud. I’m happy to say that my fears were not realized. Since by Man do not suck. With A Love Hate Relationship, they’ve created a succinct “something-” core achievement. And on a personal level, it’s given me hope. So now, in a moment filled with newly found civic pride, I’m gonna go pound a warm Pabst. [www.sincebyman.com]