BZM
08-11-2006, 05:24 AM
This will soon be up on http://www.metal-observer.com , courtesy of me (because I wrote it).
Let's try to form a mental picture: imagine a man tending the machinery in a metal fabrication factory, in which alloys are shuttled along a conveyor belt and melted down in furnaces, smashed by falling slates, pulverized by robotic arms, and ventilated by spikes bursting from the floor. Imagine one day, the man, awash with the depression of the failure of his third marriage, being evicted from his apartment due to his pitifully low salary, and afflicted with severe alcoholism, decides that his life isn't worth living and hurls himself onto the conveyor belt on the job. Imagine as he is burned alive, his bones and flesh crushed beneath tons of solid steel, body ripped apart by cold lifeless claws and gutted by spikes, all the while shrieking the most inhuman, and terrifying animal sounds you can conjure. What if all this could be captured and interpreted into a sound... a twenty-five minute, forty-six second torturous onslaught of a record? "Easter" is that record. CLOACAL KISS is that band.
To fully cover the scope of this gem, one must start at the bottom of things... the music itself. What we have here is a torrential blast of distorted guitar of the fast and frantic variety, although words can't convey the brand of brutality that we're talking about here. Whereas bands like THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN rely on dizzying time changes flying from all directions to create a sense of lost equillibrium, and ION DISSONANCE wields lumbering 7-string guitars tuned all the way down to G# to create their nihilistic sound, CLOACAL KISS takes a more direct approach, to say the least. There's minimal prancing around of time signatures here, no 50 bpm earth-shaking breakdowns... the sound simply plows through your gut like a freight train loaded with fertilizer and fuses. The closest thing I've heard to this sort of assault would have to be the grind legends DISCORDANCE AXIS (a band which I will be making more comparisons to later in this review...). Darian and Shayaan's guitar tone is almost like the screech of steam escaping valves of some machine, intentionally cold and sterile... the band has gone to great lengths to ensure that a metallic, lifeless, and desolate feel of inhumanity permeates throughout the release in all aspects. Speaking of which...
The infernal machine driving the band is not a mere man of flesh and blood, but the drum machine the band members have affectionately dubbed "Programus". Programus does not make mistakes. Programus does not know things like subtlety or volume dynamics. All Programus knows is search and destroy... the samples he's armed with are wholly inorganic and unnatural, and further complement the theme the band aimed to accomplish with this album. All of the programming was done by Darian, but the rest of the computer-related duties are taken care of by the band's bassist, Nick, who recorded, mixed, and mastered "Easter", in addition to his bass playing duties in the band. Definitely a man of many talents! But, who could forget the last member of the band, the one who there is undoubtedly going to be a great deal of press and gossip of:
Rich, formally of THE SAWTOOTH GRIN, is a certified lunatic. Scientists aren't sure if he's fully human, and they've even taken X-rays to make sure he doesn't have a third lung. Channeling vocalists like Jacob Bannon from CONVERGE and JR Hayes from PIG DESTROYER, Rich screams until his windpipe seems to bend from the sheer strain and sounds that would be closer to that of a pterodactyl or a cougar than a human being explode from his small frame. He's been known to hold screams to the point of losing consciousness onstage. Rich is no one trick pony, however... his low gutturals put a lot of dedicated brutal death metal vocalists to shame. In fact, the only freak of nature I could compare this man to is none other than the legendary Jon Chang of DISCORDANCE AXIS, and in some cases, as in songs "Technology Vs. Horse" and "I Am The Brute Squad", Rich actually SURPASSES his idol in terms of sheer destructive effect and sustain. In addition to being some kind of mutant, Rich also designed the album's very intriguing artwork, cryptic band logo (which actually DOES spell the band name! I've seen the solution with my own two eyes!), and penned the lyrics, which I will attempt to explain to the best of my ability. Jesus Christ has been resurrected in present day, as a Necrobot, and He is disgusted with what he sees and how the world has become; each song is a fault of mankind. "Venison Seraphim" involves the senseless and greed-driven killing of animals ("I'll have your Hide crucified by the fireside"), "Makeshift Cock Receptacle" deals with the objectification and sexualizing of women ("I'll baptize you in crimson and pearl"), "Technology Vs. Horse" deals with the destruction of the environment ("...plasticine soil bubbles over in technicolor stretching out to a battery acid sea"), "I Am The Brute Squad" deals with the male ego and chauvinism that dominates society ("these drunken hands have spelled in flesh I am not the man with whom to fuck"), and others... and those are just some of my interpretations, that of which all the lyrics are open to.
Normally, I don't go this in-depth with my reviews, but every now and then a band comes along that just fascinates me so intensely and goes under the microscope to see what makes it tick. Underneath all the diminished runs and chromatic lines, tritones and dissonances everywhere, the pummeling electronic percussion, there's a concept album underneath with a bleak multi-layered message shining a spotlight on the darker side of man and modern civilization. At 25:46, normally it would seem to be on the short side... but with a sound this punishing, it's a perfect length for the album. And, unexpectedly, the album closes with a simple and (shockingly!) tonal melody that continually loops until the end, as if to put you into a nice trance to forget the nightmare you just experienced. If you're a fan of THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, ION DISSONANCE, PIG DESTROYER, DISCORDANCE AXIS, or Tech/Grind in general... you need this mechanical masterwork from these four musical madmen. Not bad for a debut album.
-Sean M
9,5/10
Let's try to form a mental picture: imagine a man tending the machinery in a metal fabrication factory, in which alloys are shuttled along a conveyor belt and melted down in furnaces, smashed by falling slates, pulverized by robotic arms, and ventilated by spikes bursting from the floor. Imagine one day, the man, awash with the depression of the failure of his third marriage, being evicted from his apartment due to his pitifully low salary, and afflicted with severe alcoholism, decides that his life isn't worth living and hurls himself onto the conveyor belt on the job. Imagine as he is burned alive, his bones and flesh crushed beneath tons of solid steel, body ripped apart by cold lifeless claws and gutted by spikes, all the while shrieking the most inhuman, and terrifying animal sounds you can conjure. What if all this could be captured and interpreted into a sound... a twenty-five minute, forty-six second torturous onslaught of a record? "Easter" is that record. CLOACAL KISS is that band.
To fully cover the scope of this gem, one must start at the bottom of things... the music itself. What we have here is a torrential blast of distorted guitar of the fast and frantic variety, although words can't convey the brand of brutality that we're talking about here. Whereas bands like THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN rely on dizzying time changes flying from all directions to create a sense of lost equillibrium, and ION DISSONANCE wields lumbering 7-string guitars tuned all the way down to G# to create their nihilistic sound, CLOACAL KISS takes a more direct approach, to say the least. There's minimal prancing around of time signatures here, no 50 bpm earth-shaking breakdowns... the sound simply plows through your gut like a freight train loaded with fertilizer and fuses. The closest thing I've heard to this sort of assault would have to be the grind legends DISCORDANCE AXIS (a band which I will be making more comparisons to later in this review...). Darian and Shayaan's guitar tone is almost like the screech of steam escaping valves of some machine, intentionally cold and sterile... the band has gone to great lengths to ensure that a metallic, lifeless, and desolate feel of inhumanity permeates throughout the release in all aspects. Speaking of which...
The infernal machine driving the band is not a mere man of flesh and blood, but the drum machine the band members have affectionately dubbed "Programus". Programus does not make mistakes. Programus does not know things like subtlety or volume dynamics. All Programus knows is search and destroy... the samples he's armed with are wholly inorganic and unnatural, and further complement the theme the band aimed to accomplish with this album. All of the programming was done by Darian, but the rest of the computer-related duties are taken care of by the band's bassist, Nick, who recorded, mixed, and mastered "Easter", in addition to his bass playing duties in the band. Definitely a man of many talents! But, who could forget the last member of the band, the one who there is undoubtedly going to be a great deal of press and gossip of:
Rich, formally of THE SAWTOOTH GRIN, is a certified lunatic. Scientists aren't sure if he's fully human, and they've even taken X-rays to make sure he doesn't have a third lung. Channeling vocalists like Jacob Bannon from CONVERGE and JR Hayes from PIG DESTROYER, Rich screams until his windpipe seems to bend from the sheer strain and sounds that would be closer to that of a pterodactyl or a cougar than a human being explode from his small frame. He's been known to hold screams to the point of losing consciousness onstage. Rich is no one trick pony, however... his low gutturals put a lot of dedicated brutal death metal vocalists to shame. In fact, the only freak of nature I could compare this man to is none other than the legendary Jon Chang of DISCORDANCE AXIS, and in some cases, as in songs "Technology Vs. Horse" and "I Am The Brute Squad", Rich actually SURPASSES his idol in terms of sheer destructive effect and sustain. In addition to being some kind of mutant, Rich also designed the album's very intriguing artwork, cryptic band logo (which actually DOES spell the band name! I've seen the solution with my own two eyes!), and penned the lyrics, which I will attempt to explain to the best of my ability. Jesus Christ has been resurrected in present day, as a Necrobot, and He is disgusted with what he sees and how the world has become; each song is a fault of mankind. "Venison Seraphim" involves the senseless and greed-driven killing of animals ("I'll have your Hide crucified by the fireside"), "Makeshift Cock Receptacle" deals with the objectification and sexualizing of women ("I'll baptize you in crimson and pearl"), "Technology Vs. Horse" deals with the destruction of the environment ("...plasticine soil bubbles over in technicolor stretching out to a battery acid sea"), "I Am The Brute Squad" deals with the male ego and chauvinism that dominates society ("these drunken hands have spelled in flesh I am not the man with whom to fuck"), and others... and those are just some of my interpretations, that of which all the lyrics are open to.
Normally, I don't go this in-depth with my reviews, but every now and then a band comes along that just fascinates me so intensely and goes under the microscope to see what makes it tick. Underneath all the diminished runs and chromatic lines, tritones and dissonances everywhere, the pummeling electronic percussion, there's a concept album underneath with a bleak multi-layered message shining a spotlight on the darker side of man and modern civilization. At 25:46, normally it would seem to be on the short side... but with a sound this punishing, it's a perfect length for the album. And, unexpectedly, the album closes with a simple and (shockingly!) tonal melody that continually loops until the end, as if to put you into a nice trance to forget the nightmare you just experienced. If you're a fan of THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, ION DISSONANCE, PIG DESTROYER, DISCORDANCE AXIS, or Tech/Grind in general... you need this mechanical masterwork from these four musical madmen. Not bad for a debut album.
-Sean M
9,5/10