Tigerface

It doesn’t sound like Murder Time. There’s no screaming. No tension. No sign of a struggle. The opening track, “It’s One Thing,” starts off sounding like the kind of thing old prog-rock bands were doing in the ’80s — big, dramatic keyboards offset by the muscular chunkity-chunk of metallic guitar. But then the chorus hits, and suddenly, it’s clear that what we’re really dealing with here is a band that likes its ’80s on the New Wave tip, a first impression this six-song EP goes on to reinforce in the course of such obvious highlights as “Levels” (with its space-age keyboard riff and hyperactive drums) and “Sin,” which starts off jerking through robotic Bowie territory but also gives way to a huge arena-rocking chorus (as an ’80s New Waver would rock it, naturally). The Europe-meets-the-Cars approach of “Not You Ever Me” is also clearly not without its charms, but these guys really hit their stride here on the richly textured “Your Sunday,” a ballad that resembles Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer” and ends things on an anthemic yet melancholy note.