2009. december 8., kedd
2009. október 28., szerda
Sikth - 2006 - Death Of A Dead Day
It's not everyday you come upon a band like North London's six piece ensemble Sikth. On one hand, Sikth wear their influences on their sleeves-listen carefully and you will hear references to bands like Meshuggah, Strapping Young Lad, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Dream Theater, System of a Down, Pantera, Korn, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Steve Vai, Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Frank Zappa, and Allan Holdsworth. However, these guys mesh their over-the-top technical metal/prog stew with heaping amounts of melody and memorable arrangements. One listen through all twelve tracks of Death of a Dead Day will leave your jaw hanging on the floor with all the crazy time changes and wacked-out instrumental breaks ("Bland Street Bloom" and "Way Beyond the Fond Old River" being two perfect examples), leaving you to come to the first impression that these guys are all about throwing mind-blowing guitar and drum barrages at the listener and pummeling with their ultra-technical style. Upon further spins though, there's a band that has obviously worked just as hard at crafting catchy harmonies to go along with all the musical mayhem.The vocals on the CD range from maniacal screams ala Devin Townsend or Jens Kidman from Meshuggah, mixed with some nice melodic clean vocals. The latter is in full force on the soaring, atmospheric number "In This Light", as well as the hook laden rocker "Where Do We Fall?". For the most part though, expect high-octane progressive tinged metal excursions, with plenty of dissonant tones, complex time changes, and manic aggression. Death of a Dead Day won't be for everyone, but if you have an open mind to music that's different, heavy, complex, and highly progressive, give this a few spins and see what you think. I have a feeling you won't be disappointed.
Sikth - 2003 - The Trees Are Dead and Dried Out, Wait For Something Wild
Sikth are extremely heavy (on the whole) and complex. In the same vein as 'The Dillinger Escape plan' only not as nuts. Out of the 14 tracks on the album, 8 are very good. The two piano dedications, although worthy and understandable, are just dull. The Nick Cave cover version 'Tupelo' is boring and overlong (much the same as the track 'Can't we all dream?) 'Peep show' is standard fare, showing nothing new. And the final track 'When will the forest speak?' is actually a poem, with no instruments at all. Not too good really, but take a listen to the other tracks ('Scent of the obscene', 'How may i help you' and 'Pussyfoot' come to mind as stand-outs) And it's clear that 'Sikth' are exceptionally talented songwriters and musicians. I hope they cut out all the dead wood next time, and stick to what they excel at.....Extreme, Musical, Brutality!Hier
Myspace
2009. október 27., kedd
2009. október 26., hétfő
2009. október 25., vasárnap
2009. október 23., péntek
2009. október 22., csütörtök
2009. október 19., hétfő
Neurothing - 2009 - Murder Book
Neurothing is an interesting band, on first sight belonging to the second category. However, there's something strange going on with this Polish quintet. You see, this band is a clear Meshuggah-extract... but on each and every song on Murder Book they're, using the exact same formula over and over and over again. And here's where it gets dicey in my book: due to a severe lack in dynamics and variation, the large audience will get distracted very easily. All the rest will discover a band with potential... after a while, that is.If you have a strong stomach for "math metal" and you can digest a massive wall of seemingly structured chaotic metal, then you're definitely ready for Neurothing's oft-repeated performance. All the others should spend no longer than ten minutes of their time listening to this band - to check three songs out - just that you at least know what Neurothing is all about. However, if you like what you hear, I strongly recommend giving Neurothing more than one chance. If you can bring in enough patience, Murder Book seems to be an album worth growing on you...!!!!
Hier
Myspace
Neurothing - 2005 - Vanishing Celestial Bodies EP
Vanishing Celestial Bodies is an independent release, and usually the production on independent releases isn’t the best. That’s not the case here — the production on this EP is very good, and has a lot of power and clarity. This is a good calling card for the band as they try and wedge their foot in the music industry’s door.Will you like Neurothing? That depends. If you’re into “classy” Metal with tuneful vocals, catchy melodies, and soaring guitars, you will not like Vanishing Celestial Bodies … at all. Run away screaming. However, if you like your Metal raw, you might want to keep your ears on Neurothing!!!!
TesseracT - 2007 - Demo
TesseracT are clearly talented as a band, and while the music may not be that technical in terms of musicianship, the layering done by the band and the constant time changes and polyrhythms are a clear indicator. The musicians also stay true to their doom/post/math metal tags with some solid instrumentation and appropriate playing. If this album is a sign of things to come, then there are high hopes for TesseracT!!!!Sybreed - 2009 - The Pulse Of Awakening
The Pulse Of Awakening is: a genre album. It will excite fans of Fear Factory, Soilwork and Meshuggah. Standing on its own, however, it will not make a dent in the Industrial scene!!!!Sybreed - 2007 - Antares
This is an excellent second album which will get talk about!!! I’m really looking forward seeing the Helvetic machine. It is really first class!!!!
2009. október 18., vasárnap
Hier2009. október 17., szombat
Hier2009. október 16., péntek
Hier
2009. október 15., csütörtök
Four Question Marks - 2008 - Titan
"It comes as no surprise to me that Meshuggah clones are starting to spring up everywhere. What is very surprising is that none, or at least none that I know of, get anywhere near the success that Meshuggah has now. I think it might be because Meshuggah were the first band to start doing anything like that, much like early death and thrash metal bands that were the pioneers of their respective genres still get praised today. As it is, Four Question Marks take a lot of influence from the Swedish polyrhythmers, and it shows again in their second album Titan.This one is quite different from Aleph, though. That one took a clear and sharp production and emulated Meshuggah identically, in particular their album Nothing. This album is about double the speed, and has a more suffocating production job, which is more in line with Chaosphere, except it’s different still. Titan is much more death metal orientated, as shown in the opener “Pain Algebra.” It begins with a small polyrhythm, then goes into more of a death metal riff, then back to polyrhythm, yet all of that feels a lot more brutal, and similar to the structure of a death metal album. The polyrhythms are still there, though, but this time, speed is the key. Listen to “Cyclopean Dementia” and tell me if you can understand the snare drum fury that’s present. I’ve listened to this album many times, and I cannot pinpoint the polyrhythms as easily as I could during Aleph, or like I can in Meshuggah. Personally, this is both a blessing and a curse, for pretty much the same reason.
There has been a change in vocalist, too. I didn’t even notice at first, which is indicative of how much I was paying attention. Nevertheless, once I found out, I noticed that the new vocalist has a much more harsh tone that the first guy, who was basically a Jens Kidman clone. This brings Four Question Marks into a mould of their own instead of emulating another band entirely.
I don’t like this album as much as I did with Aleph. It’s faster, yes, but the wall-of-sound production does it no favours, and the music feels a little too haphazard. There’s still lots to like, though, with songs like “Solid” containing some nice sections in it, but I would hope that their next album can garner some better production values, so the music has a chance to shine better. I’ll more than likely reach for Aleph more often, but I still like this."
R.I.P. ????
Four Question Marks - 2005 - Aleph
"Before I even begin the review, I should ask you: Do you like Meshuggah? If the answer is a whole-hearted “NO,” then you need not read the rest of the review, as no matter what is written, Aleph won’t be part of your essential listening group.Why is this? Well, Aleph is almost the album Meshuggah forgot to release. It has all the trimmings of a Meshuggah album, too: The bottom-string riffs, the stop/start songwriting, the polyrhythms twisting and weaving their magic (or hell, as others may describe), the shouted vocals, the warped drumming style. It’s all there. To compare, it’s closest to Meshuggah’s Nothing…there are no sections of music here that reach any speeds beyond mid-paced. My understanding of this is that Four Question Marks wanted the listener to focus on the polyrhythms moreso than the speed and ferocity, which makes sense to me because this is filled to capacity with winding, headache-inducing polyrhythms.
So, is Aleph as good as anything Meshuggah have released? I think so.
The guitars don’t ever leave the bottom string of the guitar. Whether they used 7 strings, 8, or the regular 6, is something I don’t quite have an ear for, but needless to say, every riff is played using that low string. I can’t recall any instances where the other guitar strings are used – if they simply used one-string guitars, they could’ve pulled off the same music! I’m not saying this is a bad thing, though, because what they lack in note variety, they make up for in riffs. There are no solos here at all, and I guess that fits with the theme of the album. The vocals are your standard Jens Kidman sound-alike shouts and yells. Nothing too spectacular there, except for the fact he’s got a very cool French accent. Basically, if you’re not a fan of Jens Kidman’s voice, then you won’t like Sebastien’s version.
The big highlight here is, of course, the insane drumming. It’s tight as all hell, with every snare hit having a lot of meaning. On the surface, it might not seem too difficult to play, although I urge anyone to reciprocate the beginning of “Beyond Tragic Words” perfectly. That is just one example of how complex the drumming is, yet it’s all kept in time and proves to be a stabilising instrument, keeping the polyrhythmic riffs in time. This aspect alone is why Aleph is as enjoyable as it is.
The production is crystal clear, yet not completely triggered/computerised like Beneath The Massacre or such bands. Everything (except the bass guitar, unfortunately) can be heard precisely, making the album that much more enjoyable. Basically, if you’re a fan of Meshuggah and what they do, Aleph should be a part of the collection, almost like an honorary member of their discography. More importantly, though, Aleph is a fantastic album that will keep fans of this style of music occupied for a long time."
Great Band...Great Album...R.I.P. ????
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