Year Of The Rat Records
November 12
Words by Jimmy Glinster
I’ve never heard of this band before, but as I search for them on the book of face, I see that some of my peeps have previously liked the band. So hopefully they are good, and I won’t need to hurt the band, their fans or my friends’ feelings.
Let’s see what they’ve got then, shall we?
A low-end rumble and some quick screams throw us into the opening track, Oni. It’s heavy, in a nu-metal kind of heavy way, and it kind of reminds me of something which I can’t quite put my finger on. Then the verse kicks in, and I’m hearing some heavy Korn undertones. Keys and some clean vocals with screamed overdubs take over in the chorus and the song takes on a new twist. I think we might actually have some new Nu-Metal on our hands here, but don’t get all elitist and write these guys off just yet, it’s a pretty good jam!
The Empiric bounces in with some heavy guitars and samples. The verse pulls back to a programmed backing track with clean vocals and few guitar notes ringing out. We hear the heavy guitars and drums take back over in the chorus, and they bring back the bounce before returning to the programmed verses. Not sure exactly what you’d call this, Electro Metal maybe, is that even a thing? It hasn’t really won me over this track, it’s a bit odd to be honest.
The following track Slither is unfortunately not a cover of that banger of a track by Velvet Revolver. I’m not sure what it is to be honest, but we hear that programmed electronic element throughout the first verse again, and then some random sampled noises as an unusual bridge into the chorus. A chorus which is heavy in tone but soft and melodic on the vocal front. It’s an all too familiar sound these days, but at least they are kind of good at it.
Second Season starts sounding like a top 40 pop song and even when the heavy guitars enter it still maintains a certain pop sensibility. It’s a nice catchy little tune, and the heavy detuned guitars are just enough to keep me slightly interested, slightly. Ok, the outro riff is pretty fucking low and heavy, so I’ll let ‘em have this one.
EP closer Kijo continues with the electro and soft vocals of the 3 previous tracks. It’s a full-blown slow burner though, and again, a very “nice” sounding track. The production of the track creates a very epic atmosphere with sampled strings throughout, however it doesn’t really seem to hit a peak. It just gets you there and keeps you there.
Nu-Metal? No! I don’t know what the fuck to call this to be honest, and I don’t know if I like it or not. The production is amazing, and the songs aren’t really that bad either, I’m just not sure where exactly it fits in. The band call themselves Alt-Metal, which I guess is almost on the mark, but only because it’s an alternative to straighten up metal. Think Deftones but heavier and with programmed synths and electronica throughout.
Honestly, though, I could have done with 4 more tracks like that opener …
