Vessels

It's difficult to sum up mediocrity. For a band to walk the tightrope between good and awful, and to subsequently point out exactly where and how often they lose their balance, is no easy task. So it is with Vessels' Black Teeth EP. The band break up their Every Time I Die/Stray From the Path worship with melodic parts modelled after Counterparts/No Bragging Rights. Unfortunately, inherent in replicating others' sounds so successfully is the fact that it's been done before. This begs the question: why bother? In Vessels' case, the simple answer is "Be Careful, I Am Death" — the best summation of their sound. However, the six other offerings on Black Teeth veer off course at varying frequencies. While "She's Filled With Secrets" and "Between The Trees" manage to stay on the tightrope after stumbling, the vertigo felt in "Atlas" and "Capital City" knock them right off. That isn't a percentage you'd want to risk putting your ears through though.