- Elementary Revolt

6/10/2008

Mataburro - war in the woods

TRACKLIST

01. Oakwood Renovation Project
02. Sharpening Scissors
03. Afterbirth
04. Stratego
05. Verminopolis
06. Someday Science
07. Piscene Industries
08. I Dare The Sky
09. Reprisaled Face
10 Sleeping With Spiders

INFO

This is weird stuff. Lots of dissonance and chaotic chord progressions mixed with tremolo picking and stuttered rhythms, some great melodic runs, and a fairly technical approach (without getting too far out there). One minute it sounds like grinding chaotic metalcore, then it goes into some death metal riffing, a little melodic Swedish kick, brief hints at a little bit of sludge, and "Stratego" even has some clean guitars that almost have a flamenco sort of sound going on!? Plus the vocals range from high screams to straight shouting, some low growls, singing, etc. There's definitely a lot going on. I will say that I prefer more tangible tracks like "I Dare the Sky" that effectively mix all of their styles with smooth transitions to some of the more caustic and all over the place material, but it's still obvious that this band is onto something. Sadly the recording doesn't do them justice. It actually sounds pretty good, but it's way, way too thin. The guitars are somewhat abrasive, though still heavy, but as soon as the guitars and scathing vocals kick in full blast, the drums lose some of their density and the bass pretty much disappears. And that's a shame, because these cats have a lot going on rhythmically that not only needs to be heard, but it needs to be in place to hold down the backbone of most of these songs. About halfway through the record my ears complete adjusting to the tones, but they definitely need a more beneficial mix. Less treble on the guitars, more volume on the bass... that's a start. But it's clear, they are on the right track. The layout is pretty interesting. I like the fact that you can't gauge what the music sounds like at all by the way the packaging looks. There are some nice illustrations of bears (I guess), some of which have extended necks like giraffes, and the inside of the booklet is set up like a 10-day journal (complete with entries rather than the actual lyrics), using worn paper textures and a font that sort of looks like handwriting (using actual handwriting on worn paper would have been far cooler, but whatever). "Day 8: The woods came alive... all eyes and teeth. Most of my crew is dead. I am in a cave and I hope someone finds this someday. The stars that I used to count are now the millions of eyes that haunt my sleep and I am jealous of the dead men. I found enough timber to keep whatever it is at bay with fire." This is definitely a curious record. I'd like it better if the mix was kinder to the incredible rhythm section, but it's kind of hard on the ears right now, and the writing needs to be a bit more cohesive.

Aversion.Online

LISTEN: Sharpening Scissors

6/10/2008

eraser at 10:36 a. m.