Negative Self - Negative Self

Negative Self are an offshoot of a former member of Swedish crossoverists Dr.Living Dead, Andreas Sandberg (who’s also drawn some covers in his time for the likes of Blaze and Enforcer), who left them to concentrate on his studies, realizing that music doesn’t pay as a profession, unless you do it fulltime and on a high level.
 
Gazing on the cover, which features a bandana wearing skull – one could hypothesize that, Negative Self would be influenced by Suicidal Tendencies. In all truth that’s not too far, from the reality of things, mixing punk, hardcore, metal and melody, the band, comes up with something not a million miles away. The main issue, for me is the weak, nasal vocals of the aforementioned gentleman, which are really piss poor. The music itself is not that bad, but Andreas tries to do this neutered version of a melodic Mike Muir, with no balls whatsoever, in probably what is one of the poorest vocal performances I have heard in the past ten years. Sorry, but I can’t really take this…