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Old 12-31-2008, 07:35 PM   #10 (permalink)
mr dave
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alright so i just downloaded this album. here's my method for reviewing a disc.

1 - headphones - regular speakers are fine when you want to have music playing in the background, but when i want to actually focus on what i'm hearing i don't want to hear anything else so i go for full ear coverage. hate ear buds.

2 - hmm no smoking emoticon - either way, not glamourizing, just saying, it helps me relax and focus on the tunes.

3 - i listen to the album while writing comments as it plays through in real time. then i'll listen to it (or selected tracks) a 2nd time and make revisions if necessary. more often than not my initial reactions are pretty accurate to my long term tastes.

so onto the album...

the ritalin conspiracy - i was about to say it sounded like a younger cleaner version of meshuggah until the horns kicked in. holy **** i'm liking that sax solo. HELL YES! kind of disappointed it went back to a 'WAH i'm pissed off' metal tune.

bird-watching and vice versa - YAY more horns. again i'm let down by the black / white style their songs feature. why not keep the ska horns over the death metal guitars? .... as i typed that they came back it's ska mr. bungle tune hehe. not so keen on the la la la bit. the breakdown immediately following is glorious

again the funny cartoon theme thing to end the tune...

corpse disposal for dummies - the chick robot backing vocals is pretty cool. again - mr. bungle. holy crap, it's not a bad thing, they do it better than anyone else i've heard so far. the influence is definitely there without sounding like a clone. i think it's mainly due to the evolution of metal since bungle's debut and their subsequent move away from metal.

fear everything - political songs annoy me.

the great red cross robbery - i like the horns coming back in the middle but aside from the first tune why don't they get solos like the guitarists? actually why does no one solo? doesn't need to be flashy

if you really love me - back to the bungle with a twist. it's quite refreshing after the last 2 songs. seems at least one guitar player can do lead, but why no horn solos?.... tsk tsk haha the trade offs would rock.

the first rule - yay more politics it's not that it's musically bad or anything, i like the trippy middle bit after the 2nd round of eff the white house. it's just that specific political tunes date songs horribly. in the grand scheme of things if i play this to my niece in a few years she's not going to have a clue as to why they're chanting it. YAY horn solos!

satan vs. the unites states of america - i was expecting more grr-politics with a title like the above but the court case angle is freaking awesome hehe PRAIShE JASUS!

world of chaos - like a weird circus ballad that flies through all sorts of freak out and funk metal haha again it's like getting lectured by mr. bungle. kind of goes long, probably great on stage though.

bennett brauer - the chaos is too organized for me in this one. it's so short so why not add more tension to the build up? the horns could have been louder and more dissonant. it left me lacking

weaug, teaug, peaug (the powder of life) - wow, so they're playing a jazz tune now. will it go into metal? closing on the minute mark... another sax solo... might the twist be a lack of twist?

suppose not but a raggae switch is always cool in my book hehe

almost turns into a pink floyd / mogwai tune near the middle. by this point i'm really preferring these type of changes to the metal that was dominating the bulk of the other tunes. really liking the build near the end.

**** piss die - that intro sample about being pets makes me want to dig out some porno for pyros haha. the metal in this one totally reminds me of meshuggah's 'future breed machine'.

really liking the almost surf breakdown around the 2 minute mark. the interplay around 3 minutes between the guitar and horns is what i was talking about earlier. why only on one tune?

the outro vamp is pretty cool although there are some spots where the rhythm guitar was doing cool stuff but seemed buried in the mix. i also think if a band is going to fade out a tune they should let it all hang out as opposed to just repeating the motif again and again.


overall - there's definitely a mr. bungle influence throughout this group and that's not a bad thing. they seem to have been able to draw from it as opposed to try to mimic it. some of the songs had superfluous parts to them but for the most part the sections were short enough that it didn't really matter. my only other gripe is the lack of musical interplay through some of the different styles, the first tune had some serious action going on, but the parts sound like a forced mash up. not really a fan of grr politics tunes but that's just me.

on the plus side the album kept me guessing what direction the band would head in next straight through to the end and pulled it off effectively throughout. by the end the band showcases some of the interplay i found lacking earlier in the album. i guess it comes down to a hoping for more of a free jazz element to the music. either way, it's a great disc and worth checking out if you like stuff like mr, bungle, meshuggah, and les savy fav.





tl/dr - get this disc
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