Hardcore, god how I hate hardcore, I've put off listening to this CD 'cos I know I won't like it but it's coming up to deadline day so i'm gonna have to listen whether I want to or not, now I know I told him (Fraser Mcgartland - Golden
Lake /
Serenade Head honcho) to send me anything he wanted for me to review but hardcore, aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh, thanks a lot Fraser!
Actually I mean it, thanks Fraser for once again widening my musical tastes as this CD is very, very interesting.
Still not a hardcore fan tho' but whilst a lot of the vocals are in the 'dumb-shouty' style there are touches of black metal influence here and there (both vocally and in some of the riffs), there are also some very arty (proggy hardcore anyone?) parts too and the whole release is very eclectic.
Imagine a hardcore/prog/black metal crossover version of System of a
Down (circa Mezmerize but without any 'poppy' bits) and that might give you some idea of where this CD is coming from.
The Earache info sheet that came with the promo is headed 'file under metal' and I guess that's about right as this release is no dumb hardcore but is a far more intelligent beast, as I said before there are some interestingly prog-like sections and it is blisteringly metallic in places.
As this is one of those releases that has 99 tracks (although there are only 13 songs) it becomes confusing as to where one starts and where it finishes and some of the tracks have the obligatory odd title (how's about '...and on the day that he became a human plumb line' - anyone?) that all 'interesting' hardcore bands seem to go for these days.
Some of us metalhead's may find this a bit hard to swallow but if you've got an open mind about trying something new and are prepared to give a cd a few listens to 'bed in' then this could be the release for you.
All in all this is not going to be to everyone's taste but true geniuses never give you an easy ride and any hardcore group that can get me to admit I like their album has got to be doing something right.
17/20
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