Today They Are Older – ‘Universal’

When reading the genre of this band, I must admit I was excited and ready to be surprised, challenged and maybe even confused, “experimental” is right up my street, and after a celestially rousing intro with some tasty vocal harmonies, sadly there was nothing experimental about it, and the works of someone like “John Zorn” would possibly terrify this band into that realisation, but I battled on, waiting for something to catch me out, unfortunately it never came, the band reminds me of more aggressive “Glassjaw” or “Deftones” with its clean vocals, gristley guitar tone and angsty choruses. The songs were basic structured affairs, and the musicianship although limited, had glimmers of greatness and was well executed through some great riffs, passionate vocals and excellent drumming, there was a definite improvement and rays of hope throughout the third track “Anger Is More Useful Than Despair”, that made me think, why didn’t you play more like this? with a meaty riff that progressed into an surprise blast beat which evolved into a more interesting experience.
I think for a debut E.p “Universal” is not a bad effort, and in time there is definite room for ‘Today They Are Older’ to emerge into a great band if the more intricate sections where to be expanded to their full potential. But as it stands the over ambitious genre classification detracted from the fact that these guys although sounding familiar, are great at what they are doing.

6/10

Track Listing

1. Outcomes

2. Any Sign Of Life

3. Anger Is More Useful Than Despair