Nevermind the rating at the bottom, I like this band. We were at the first show they ever played live when they opened for Periphery, The Human Abstract, Textures, and The Contortionist. They absolutely killed it (in a good way). I’ve seen too many local bands over the years, and Sessions is easily in my top 5 to open a show. They had the crowd jumping and everything while none of us even knew who they were.

Ever since, I had been waiting for them to record and release music. So when they announced “Metacognition”, I was pretty stoked to listen. But when I actually did listen, it was honestly a let down. I wasn’t even planning to do a review until giving it another listen recently. There is so much potential in this band and they are not living up to it in the studio. It seems they sacrificed creativity for an over abundance of boring, directionless groove. Not to say it’s all stale. There are definitely creative, cool moments to be found between the generic bits.

The EP starts with “IV”, which honestly seems like Sessions is trying too hard to make that huge intro found on so many “djent” records. It starts with atmosphere before you’re attacked by seemingly uninspired chugging. This intro does get cool towards the end as the guitars pass off a rhythm into a bigass groove. Next up is “Gifts Ungiven” which starts off decent but turns into a pretty generic ride until the end of the song when the band lets out a well written melody, in the form of a groove (noticing a trend here?). “Haunted Sleep” is definitely one of the best tracks on this EP as it breaks away from the norm more than the others. There’s a really nice melodic section about a minute in along with one of the nicest heavy patterns on the release. “Nerve Endings” is a decent track with some interesting rhythmic parts and some not so interesting ones along with a nice melodic section. That description also applies directly to the last track “Aversion”.

So basically, these guys are just skimming below the waves of mediocrity. There’s almost nothing original here, but the band is talented. If Sessions thinks above the norm instead of giving into a generic sound on their next release, I truly believe they would have much more to offer. That’s pretty much the story of Sessions, untapped potential… with an awesome live show. “Metacognition” is a decent debut for Sessions. It shows the bands potential to become something more, especially considering the band is still young. I wish the best of luck to these guys.

I also bet a lot of you will love this EP and I still encourage you to give the whole thing a listen on Bandcamp. And as usual, if you like it, don’t hesitate to help the band out with a download or some cash.

Links: Facebook // Bandcamp