Review / 200 Words Or Less
See Through Dresses
End of Days EP

Tiny Engines (2015) Aideen

See Through Dresses – End of Days EP cover artwork
See Through Dresses – End of Days EP — Tiny Engines, 2015

See Through Dresses' sound is lathered in squealing, wailing guitars that melt and sway in the sludge of the rawest depths of grunge. The frazzled cocoon that is "Everyman" is laced with the threat "Wait 'til father gets home" delivered in a neutral tone while the guitars frantically crash through the song. There's a constant juxtaposition between the vocals and the music in a good chunk of this EP, like each element is offering a searing rebuke. One this EP, the ferocious and unflinching music takes centre stage.

The real expression in this EP is in Sara Bertuldo's searing guitar playing and new recruit Alex Kirts's sinewy, fluid bass playing. However, the title track experiments with a more acoustic sound. Here Mathew Carroll delivers a soothing vignette of a life lived, from childhood ("I want to be the boy you drop safe at school") to new relationships in adulthood that eventually lead to a view of finality ("But I don't want to outlive/It would be too hard"). End of Days is a rewarding collection of songs toying with different sounds that seems like a work in progress, offering a glimpse at what the band's sound may become.

6.5 / 10Aideen • January 18, 2016

See Through Dresses – End of Days EP cover artwork
See Through Dresses – End of Days EP — Tiny Engines, 2015

Recently-posted album reviews

Action/Adventure

Ever After
Pure Noise (2025)

Chicago’s Action/Adventure have been grinding the pop-punk trenches since 2014. They have always played pop-punk like it still has something to prove because for them, it does. They went viral in 2020 on TikTok with their song “Barricades” by calling out the exact thing no one in the scene wanted to say out loud. The genre is full of white … Read more

217

In Your Gaze
Time To Kill (2025)

If you didn’t know, hardcore and punk are alive and thriving in Italy. When I come across bands from there, their scene never ceases to amaze me. Italy gave us Raw Power and Negazione in the ’80s, Slander and Strength Approach in the 2010s. Now 217 picks up that lineage with their own mix of fire and reflection by keeping … Read more

Ugly Stick

Absinthe
Hovercraft Records (2025)

Contrary to what I said on Vh1’s Behind the Music, Tim from Hovercraft is one of my favourite human beings. I suppose in some ways that’s not saying much but Tim plays in one of my favourite bands, I’m a fan of his art and on top of those two things and running a label, his day job is saving … Read more