Mention the band sealakes and people will be inclined to think that this is another generic 5-piece band in the over-saturated metalcore genre, playing heavy breakdowns one after another.

However, the one-man band from Rancho Santa Margarita, California follows the footstep of others such as Never Shout Never, Five for Fighting and Owl City by adopting a stage name for their truly solo endeavours. That’s right, every instrument, and vocal produced on this album comes from just 1 person. sealakes is a play on his name: sea for Casey, Lagos is the Spanish word for lakes.

All of 22 years old, he’s no newbie, having started touring with a band since he was 16, being behind the drums for metalcore band, Stick to Your Guns.

A precocious talent in drumming, Casey began his percussion voyage at the tender age of 4. According to Vic Firth drumsticks, he began to delve deeper into the realm of music and picked up the guitar next. Then came singing.

Musically, Every Heart EP is a smorgasbord of different modern metal styles, amalgamating post-hardcore, metal and alternative together. Elements of Parkway Drive, A Day To Remember and Stick To Your Guns can be heard in this promising album.

Every Heart EP gets off to a flying start with “Better Days”. The song starts off with static before blasting into a high-tempo drumbeat to signal the intent of sealakes– to be brutal yet catchy.

The difficulty of playing in a genre so crowded is that most metalcore bands tend to sound alike, thanks to the appalling lack oforiginality.

Yet even without the benefit of multiple heads and voices , sealakes managed to vary the song compositions by tastefully singing the bright, major chords, while capitalising on the minor chords to create a sad feel to the tracks.

“Every Heart” talks about Casey’s life after his mum succumbed to terminal illness. According to an interview with HighWire Daze, he wrote the self-titled track because he wanted to show that he had support from his friends and how his family found solace in the time of suffering.

The songs on the album however, seemed to be too short for UrbanWire’s liking as most of the songs were under 3 minutes. The longest song, “Every Heart” clocks in at 3:23 minutes while the shortest track on the album, “Better Days”, is only 2 minutes long. On the positive side, international radio stations won’t have a problem playing the songs off this catchy record.

“Not Without You” exudes a slight rock and roll vibe, with the guitar phrasing sounding like Slash’s signature style of riffing. The lyrics convey positivity and signify that there is light at the end of the tunnel:

I opened my eyes and you opened the doors
I’m smiling again, there’s no pain anymore
All my suffering just washed away, seeing horizons of a new day”

Every Heart EP is a fantastic prelude of what we can expect from his future full-length album. You don’t have to be a multi-platinum, chart-topping artist to enjoy making music.

Artist: sealakes
Album: Every Heart EP
Rating: ★★★✩✩

Language: English
Genre: Post Hardcore
Release Date: 11 October 2010

Track list:

  1. Better Days
  2. Every Heart
  3. Go Again
  4. Anyways
  5. Not Without You
  6. Open Up The Sky