Metal Underground.com

Back in April of 2010 I had the opportunity to review End of Expectations’ first EP (reviewed here), and summed it up thusly: “the way I hear it, [End of Expectations’] potential is capped at the level of a consistently solid regular, not a perennial all-star.” This was in the context of decent debut EP despite bad production. End of Expectations released a second EP on November 26th of 2010, and aside from teaching us what a “skut” is (apparently a combination of a skank and a slut, the subtleties of which escape me), “Skuts for Days” delivers the same music, albeit with much better production.

“In Remembrance” is a ballad of sorts, and judging from the title and snippets of lyrics it is to fallen troops and that type of thing. It is a big, slow, lumbering affair – not as lumbering as doom styles, but certainly slow for anything based on thrash. “Download Us Illegally...Now Don't!” has every ‘core trick in the book – fast leads over top, yelling, chugs, clean chorus singing, anthemic melodies, an amalgamation of everything toward the end, outtro breakdown, some other stuff. End of Expectations made sure to get into the gym and work their ‘core muscles (get it?!?!).

The best bit on the EP is the re-recorded “This is Letting Go,” as the layers and leads crackle even more with the better soundboard work. The title track, however, is a mess of riffs, tempos, groupies, and juvenile missives about physical relations with the opposite sex. Ultimately End of Expectations added a bit more sophistication to the band’s arrangements and a little more diversity to the songwriting, but my main theme from the first paragraph still holds. The Hot Topic crowd will love both the title track and the entirety of “Skuts for Days.” The rest of us….eh.