The Demo Review:

Artist: True To Form
Band Members: Ron Taniguchi (vocals), Steve Schmidt (guitars), Huge Meydbray (bass), Kevin Jackson (drums)

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There are currently 2 Reviews of this Demo.
Average Rating: 5

Hel's Review:
As a band trying to get signed, this band is doing a lot right. Their cd is professional-looking and only four songs. Most importantly, those four songs are not one song redone in four ways, but four distinct and different tunes. Along with the disc, I got 3 items. A short, readable bio, a band photo and a press sheet.
The bio is just what it should be, like the cd itself. The one thing I would change about the cd is the packaging - I personally always look for a track listing on the back and I kept having problems with the cover slipping out because it’s a cut a little too small. The photo, well, it’s obviously been Photoshopped, and I’m not just saying that because one guy’s got a bright blue tattoo in a black and white photo. Actually, I think that’s kind of a nice touch, but overall the photo is a little too grainy. My philosophy is, if it’s supposed to be a "traditional" press kit, then send the traditional glossy photo and keep the cool Photoshop stuff as extras to go with the press.
Now, the press sheet. It looks cool, no question. It’s all black with an outlined, colored, full-length action shot of the guitar player jumping up in the air and the bad logo and quotations from various sources along the side in white lettering. There’s certainly a number of ways to present your press clippings, and this is a pretty innovative one. However, in a quotation format such as this, it’s not too hard to doctor bad quotes to make them look good and everyone who’s gone to see a bad movie based on "rave" reviews they saw quoted on the trailer knows it. So if the reviews are really good, you may want to maintain the integrity of those review by including the whole thing, even if it is only a little blurb. I think it would actually be nice to see both. They could use the current sheet as a "teaser" cover page, and create a little booklet containing the reviews quoted from within (see my suggestion about photos above to spice things up.) The bottom line with this is, the sheet I got is impressive to look at but not necessarily easy to buy.
Finally, last but not least, the disc. There’s a lot to like on Special Edition. They sound like they have a strong line-up and the production quality is much better than average. The songs themselves are shockingly catchy - after only a couple of listens I found myself singing along with the chorus. The musicianship is extremely good all around and I can’t pick out a weak link in that sense. Now, they definitely have combined a few different forms of "extreme" music to formulate their sound, so if I start tossing around blanket terms don’t necessarily think that’s all they sound like. But for me, the album starts off all wrong. While "Push Away" is extremely catchy for a song this heavy, it’s got too much of that new school vibe for my taste. I’m put in mind of new Machine Head and of similar things, but not each and every song sounds like that. So I don’t think it’s necessarily even fair for me to say but since I can’t shake it, I gotta put it out there. The real bottom line for me, I’m no big fan of hardcore and there’s too much hardcore in my True to Form metal.
All in all, personal musical tastes aside, these guys are ready to be signed. If you’d like an opinion with musical tastes included, I’d say that this is worth checking out even if you don’t like hardcore because there’s a great deal of straightforward thrash-oriented metal mixed in here too, and when it rises to the surface, it’s damn good. I’m hoping that in the future True To Form stay the course set on songs like, "No Escape," because I love the heavy shit. These guys definitely have something good going. Kudos for all they’ve done and best of luck for the future.

Reviewed by Musashi:
True To Form’s four song demo looks and sounds great. I was impressed by the photos and packaging of the CD. I was wondering why they included a sheet with a bunch of quotes pulled from reviews and a photo that looks like an Ibanez guitar add, which is bad only because it makes me want to buy an Ibanez more than it makes me want to buy the CD. The bio contains all the grandiose hyperbole which one would expect.
Their self proclaimed "neo-thrash" sound reminds me of Sevendust. However, they are more metal than Sevendust (some would say being more metal than Sevendust is not a big accomplishment.) The comparison comes from the flanged guitar sounds and some of the song writing. The first song, "Push Away," especially begins like a Sevendust song. The other songs start to remind me more of Fear Factory and Machine Head. I guess it’s time for these guys to send their demo to Roadrunner Records. (We can discuss how metal Roadrunner's bands are some other time).
The musicianship is very good. The recording is very good. True To Form have solid metal vocals and double bass drums. The guitars sound pretty thick throughout. There are some moments of bad tone but not enough to worry about.
I would like to check these guys out live.

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