Millions – Gather Scatter
Chicago band Millions has come out with an uproarious debut in Gather Scatter, an album that is hard to pinpoint into one genre. At some points, it’s an edgier version of Queens Of The Stone Age; at others, it’s the vile spawn of Black Flag and Iron Maiden. The band comes out guns-a-blazing, not letting up for 27 minutes, while keeping themselves to a three-and-a-half-minute time limit on the majority of the tracks. Their sound is tight and compact, with guitar harmonies, heavy distortion, and a biting glimpse into our bleak present-day civilization.
Life sucks; we all know it. Millions does too, as evident by the lyrics to “View From A Sinking Ship” and “We Make Poor Decisions.” Lines such as “I can’t eat, and I can’t sleep, and when I try, it’s crashing cars” and “he voided his life of a purpose, by staying the same” are barked into the listener’s ear, slowly breaking the myth of the American dream word by word. To be able to convey this message to maximum effect, the music has to provide a solid foundation to build off of.
Millions succeeds in strides on the musical front. Guitarists Corey Lyons and Scott Flaster are a dynamic duo, with a strong chemistry full of distorted melodies and frantic harmonic lead work that matches the chaotic nature of the album. The rhythm section of bassist Mark Konwinski and drummer Pat O’Shea are the backbone of Gather Scatter, with the former the driving force behind the main verses of “Mile High Cake.”
Gather Scatter is able to keep the momentum at a high level, only dipping slightly with the short “Pickpocket” and drawn-out closer “We Make Poor Decisions.” The former is too brief to mean anything, though it had much potential. The latter starts out with a bang, and continues that way for the first half, descending into sheer madness for the second half. Heavy feedback creates a wall of sound that pierces the ear drums, before slowing down into an unnecessary extended bass outro, which dulls the senses by its end.
Gather Scatter is nothing if not a glance into the darker side of life, a post-modern look at what we as a society have degraded ourselves to. It’s an ambitious concept, one that Millions is more than capable of undertaking. In this loud journey into madness and despair, there is nothing but grim and filth around every corner, making Gather Scatter the perfect soundtrack for the outcasts of society.
Rating: 7.5/10
Label: Seventh Rule
Web Site: http://www.myspace.com/millionschicago
By Dan Marsicano
(+35 rating, 7 votes)
Good album, nothing great but surely better then a lot of the more recent releases. I can def admit to some similarities to Queens Of The Stone Age. A very gritty and experimental group, I for one see great things in this band’s future.
And a solid review by the way.
who is this dethorgy guy, you comment everything, get a job dude