Robotic Empire – Teeth of the Divine

Jesu/Battle of Mice Split

Belgarath — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:25:18 +0000

Though both located on the same side of the metal spectrum, its hard to see Jesu and Battle of Mice doing a split together. Obviously, any two artists can do a split, but I feel the point of a split is to make one coherent, meaningful work. Look at the Fordirelifesake and Deluge split, or the Graves at Sea and Asunder split. I’m not huge on splits and I don’t own many, but I consider those (among maybe a few others) to be the pinnacle of what a split should be. The synergy between them is undeniable. I’m still not sure if the same is true for Jesu and Battle of Mice. Regardless, I think the four songs on this split are among the best of both artists.

The split opens with two Jesu tracks: “Clear Stream” and “Fall From Grace.” Both are unmistakably Jesu, but softer than most of their material. “Clear Stream” is indescribable. This track hit me pretty hard the first time I heard it. The complex emotions it conjures are extremely profound, but typical for Jesu. Imagine surviving a severe car accident and what you might feel upon reflection of the event. A new found love for your own life and for those closest to you. You’re in turmoil with feelings of regret for taking everything for granted, and you vow to never let that happen again. I’ve been in that situation before, and oddly enough, “Clear Stream” brings back those feelings. “Fall From Grace” is heavier, but more chill. It’s sort of a relaxing song, and something to listen to under a tree. Despite how electronic this song is, it feels organic and natural. These two songs left me feeling relaxed and at peace. But it was only the calm before the storm.

Battle of Mice. If you’ve heard “Day of Nights”, then you know what to expect. Neurosis style metal with the intense, charismatic vocals of Julie Christmas (also from Made Out of Babies). These two bittersweet, brooding and manical tracks are stellar. “The Bishop’s” building introduction is electrified by Christmas’ performance. The whole track seems to be on the verge of emotional breakdown. Though not really as spooky as “A Day of Nights”, they seem to have gained some maturity. “Yellow and Black” seeths and oozes in a doomy/post-metal fashion. The song writing on both tracks (“Yellow and Black” especially) is damn near perfect. Simplistic and effortless, they take their time, but never too much time. After hearing these two tracks, I definitely feel pumped for the new album.

There you have it. A diverse, and very solid split. I have only one complaint. These two bands are so far apart, it’s a little jarring to hear them next to each other like this. I would have loved to see one of the two bands make a compromise in their sound. Though both bands write in a style which works for them (exceptionally so), if Jesu darkened their sound, or Battle of Mice lightened up, I think this split would be even more effective, beyond the individual songs. But don’t let that stop you. Check this out.

GODS & QUEENS finish debut album, post first preview track

Erik T — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:14:51 +0000

The Brooklyn/Philadelphia trio GODS & QUEENS have finished their debut album and the first preview track has been posted online here:

http://www.myspace.com/GodsAndQueens

The untitled seven-song album was recorded by Jason LaFarge at Seizures Palace and mastered by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance East. This will see an October 14th street date as a 12″+CD (both formats together) released by Robotic Empire in North America and Adagio830 in Europe. A cassette version
will also be available from Dead Format Cassettes, and digital downloads will be available on iTunes, etc.

A Life Once Lost – The Fourth Plague:Flies EP

Chris Dick — Sat, 06 Aug 2005 00:48:57 +0000

It’s difficult to discern the massive quantities of hardcore/metal hybrids clogging the arteries of the underground music, so it’s with great pleasure that I find Philadelphia’s A Life Once Lost neither a Dillinger Escape Plan or Hatebreed clone. Certainly, these are two of the bigger bands occupying the space, but A Life Once Lost do an admirable job sounding like none of their peers. At the quartet’s disposal are equal payloads of hardcore, European metal (ala At The Gates) and technical death metal (ala Gorguts) that jettison at once for one of the stranger listening experiences I’ve had lately. Similar to labelmates The Now, A Life Once Lost draw lots of influence from all styles of heavy music to create something familiar yet rather unique. For example, “The Dead Sea” combines the staccato march indicative of East Coast hardcore with progressive-styled bass lines (think Gorguts “Erosion of Sanity”) and then proceeds to blast off into the stratosphere when everything starts to make sense. “Prepare Yourself For What Is About To Come” is equally strange. The opening section of the song recalls Eucharist’s “The View,” but like all of A Life Once Lost’s songs it moves into massive bouts of pit-friendly chugging then on to some backward Sabbath riffs. All of the songs on The Fourth Plague Flies use quick, single-note melodic techniques in the NWOSDM vein to convey a sense of urgency and harmonic dissonance to create tension. You feel pulled in all directions yet drawn to single point. However, it’s not always A Life Once Lost are so successful. “Our Second Home” feels a little too much like jumbled, obtuse song structures simply pinned together for the sake of making a ‘song.’ Furthermore, in the vocal department, A Life Once Lost are less inventive than they are instrumentally. Vocalist Bob Meadows is all power, but as with most bands growling their way to notoriety, there’s not a lot of variation to be found. You get the feeling that Meadows should be doing more, but these guys are extremely green. I’ll wager as A Life Once Lost grow musically, so too will the vocal department. For the most part, The Fourth Plague:Flies sees A Life Once Lost maturing into an formidable outfit and further exploration and refinement will ultimately make them one of the scene’s better bands. If Unearth, Heartscarved or any of the bands mentioned in this review are part of your collection, A Life Once Lost definitely deserves your attention.

Red Chord, The – Fused Together in Revolving Doors

Stacy Buchanan — Wed, 20 Mar 2002 05:11:30 +0000

Fused Together In Revolving Doors hit me like an uppercut to the balls, rendering me in pain on the ground only able to lay motionless while the heavy breathing and bristling of this band snarled in my ear. Imagine Converge as a death metal band and that’s approximately the feeling I get from The Red Chord. Intelligent, thought out metal, where the technicality and heavy factor are set on “10” without the cheesy stigmas of death metal. A breakdown will show up every now and then, but the true power of this band relies in their original licks and speed.

“Like a Train Through a Pigeon” is blastbeat into hyper-thrash into blastbeat with a couple breakdowns thrown in that are easily Hatebreed’s Harvard graduate of a cousin in execution. Especially on the track “Catalepsy,” the listener is sucker-punched in the face with a sickening breakdown around the 1:20 mark – their missing front teeth serves as evidence. Production is a perfect compliment to the style. The bass drums actually have bass, and aren’t just little pussy “click-click” sounds. And it actually sounds as if the drummer is playing his kit; not the ultra-triggered sound common with death metal these days. The natural sound is a nice realistic glimpse into the actual drumming and, if anything, makes the song that much more pummeling. The guitars are crunchy with low end, but it’s not a bunch of over done open “E” chords; the brutality is executed with taste.

Another unique aspect of The Red Chord is their vocal department. The spectrum is entirely covered when it comes to extreme metal: the death-like grunt, high-pitched scream, slightly decipherable yell/shout. It’s all here and then some. Within the first 10 seconds, track eight, “Dreaming In Dog Years,” will make Dillinger Escape Plan fans do a double take. The technical guitar and drum interplay is rabidly furious and nano-second sensitive on the timing scale, and it’s also 10 times heavier. An added bonus is that this band came pretty much out of nowhere, which adds to my shock and amazement as to why more people raving aren’t about this band? If bands like Botch and The Dillinger Escape Plan are the thinking man’s metal for the indie-metal/hardcore kids, then The Red Chord will represent intelligence in death metal. Thankfully the painful stigmas that come along with having “death metal” associated with The Red Chord isn’t present on Fused Together In Revolving Doors.