Lythic Blue Bring Me My Monacle. I Want To Look Rich. Release Date : September, 2003 Label: Independent Rating: Local Joke/Local Mention/Local Competence/Local Promise/No Longer Local "The Cave Imp Crucible" and "Harae-Do-No-Okami" as song titles? Lythic Blue as a band name? Whodeawhadeaisgoinonhere? As it stands, we have more than enough attempts at gaining intrigue related to perplexing titles in the form of fellow Canadian screamers Boys Night Out, and likely the worst band of 2004, Coheed And Cambria, with their bullshit jibbah jabbah about keeping secrets of silent earth. What have the boys of the Blue got up their sleeves with this six song EP? A whole lot of that scream a bit, play some complicated guitar, play something melodic, be abrasive for a few bars, add some deeply pained background vocals, throw out some who-in-the-what-now? song titles, and do it all over again on the next song. And they are actually respectably decent at doing it. Certainly as capable as any of the mono-generic-is-this-a-new-song-or-a-continuation-of-the-last-song-that-sounded-like-the-song-before bands that I was recently treated to at the Warped Tour. One thing this does prove-something is going on in Victoria. For a market the size of Beautiful British Columbia’s capital to produce such diverse and talented groups including the likes of the great dance punks in Hot Hot Heat, the incense chillmeisters of One Drop, the international pop stylings of Nelly Furtado and the underground hippity hop of The Oddities is pretty impressive. And now, in the slot of generic yet mentionable loud and fast punk and roll, you can add Lythic Blue to the list. Bring Me My Monocle. I Want To Look Rich. opens and closes with its strongest tracks. "The Distance Between The Moon And A Star" starts the EP off sounding somewhat distinctive and interesting, but it does not take long to realize that the following couple numbers sound quite similar, really similar, and what was initially unique has morphed into an unflinching similarity, not only to the other songs but also to the aforementioned Warped bands. Even after that gripe, they are still alright. Yeah, they are alright, I guess. And then the un deux trois cat sank (en Francais, eh?). "Desert Of Glass", song number five in case you did not catch onto the laughter attempt, is the low point, bogged down and cluttered up with just too much of too much: guitars, voices, pummelling all around. And then comes the perfect antidote. The tender and warm "Harae-Do-No-Okami", finds Lythic Blue back on their feet with their strongest contribution to the outing. Is it just me, or is it usually the case that the rare quite song that these sorts of bands write is usually the strongest? Whatever your thoughts are, the song is a good way to bring the EP to a gentle halt. All said, these guys deserve a shot at something big, or at least bigger, and lets us hope that they get it. -Kevin Halpin Elsewhere Lythic Blue website Published : July 28, 2004.