aCr - Ghost Note Manifest (Self-Released)

From Houston, TX, comes aCr, the new project of Alvaro Che Rodriguez, the guitarist and vocalist of punk group Liquid Casing. aCr has just recently released their new EP, Ghost Note Manifest, a post-future rock explosion with a lot of ground covered in only twelve minutes. The EP is a thick, sonic tapestry of woven guitars and fiery vocals reminiscent of groups like Fugazi and Queens of the Stone Age. The opening track “The Mechanical Motion of Dying Stars” gets the EP off to a roaring start with crunging guitar riffs and severe blasts of energy only to be interrupted by a menacing and looming intermission before building again into a frenzied wall of sound.

For an album with only three tracks, one might think including an instrumental would be a poor choice, but the second song here “Turnstile Intervention,” against all logical thinking is actually an incredibly apposite choice for inclusion. The entire idea behind the band, it seems, is less about lyrical importance and more on noise and the nonexistent sounds that crawl out of said noise. The lack of vocals on this track only highlight this idea, creating, arguably, the best track here. The final track, “1st Assumptions Vs 2nd Doubts” is the most schizophrenic of the tracks, playing heavily with crescendos and decrescendos. Ghost Note Manifest is a highly engaging listen and respectable if merely for the ambition shoved into such limited space.