Related artists: End Of All.
Country: Aphasia, Ohio USA
Years Active: 2003-2008
Song: "I Tried Voodoo Once"
Album: "Not One Word Has Been Omitted"
Year: 2003
For fans of: Johnny Truant, Curl Up And Die, Crestfallen, Between The Buried And Me, The Red Chord, Fear Before The March Of Flames, Circles Over Sidelights, (early) Ed Gein, The Ocean, The End, Cannibal Corpse, The Pax Cecilia, Lamb Of God and Into The Moat.
Label(s): Self Released / Black Market Activities / Metal Blade Records
This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #9.
This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #9.
FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW hailed from Ohio in the USA and cycled through quite a few vocalists (three) over only a few releases (three) but managed to concoct very powerful and complex variations of metal with hints of hardcore.
From the band's 2003 debut 'The Cassandra Complex' (reissued later that year as 'Not One Word Has Been Omitted') "The Challenge of Caring" is a mixture of Between The Buried And Me and Johnny Truant as well as early Curl Up And Die aka math/thrash metal wiht growls as well as screams. "I Tried Voodoo Once" was their first "single" and still holds up today as one of their best songs with venomous vocals which eventually soften around the one-minute mark and are very Fear Before The March Of Flames, It also features stupid fast drums that sound like a black metal Discordance Axis just before 1:30 and after two minutes there's a black hole of a breakdown which leads to more Into The Moat math/death metal. At about four minutes in there's some Usurp Synapse screaming that leaks into the ending which is absolutely pulverizing and eventually dissipates at 6:01. "Vespers" closes the album and is the longest of the songs at 8:53 and is great but pales in comparison to the awesomeness that is "I Tried Voodoo Once". This album is definitely my favourite as it showcases more grind (especially in the vocals) and less on the death metal. All future albums teeter the other way.
In 2005 FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW released 'Delenda' which has noticeable production improvements. Another noticeable change is that the band actually slows down their general speed a bit, opting for more variations on their sound including my personal favourite from the LP "Ghosts Over Japan" which is a near-cheesy piano track with clean vocals. It sounds much akin to the opener on The Pax Cecilia's final LP "The Tragedy". The soaring vocals really take flight at 1:20 with more instrumentation being added after 1:40 which I find myself singing for days after hearing it. "Dark Waters of Thought" is a pummeling affair but does inject a fair amount of melody that was much more subtle in their debut. "Oracles and Doorsteps" is another heavy track that manages to border on death metal, cuz those vocals are demonic as fuck at certain points. Much like Into The Moat, one vocalist goes to show you that a bunch of people taking vocals duties is not necessary if one person has the range. "These Lights Above Us" shifts from a playful affair to "make a dead person die again" kind of heavy within the first 30 seconds and then flies around all over the place for the remaining four minutes. "Mourning for Morning" is probably the song most reminiscent to Between The Buried And Me with a killer final 30 seconds.
The band's final LP 'Conversations' begins with the extremely radio friendly "Most Of Us Are Normal" which will have even the most skeptical singing along by the end cuz those vocals are stupid good. "Leaving the Earth" follows and should relinquish any further fear of an accessible and soft rock/metal record although a clean note can be heard here and there. Upon further listens it does become apparent that the band softened a little more on this record, as the opening of what one would expect to be heavy in "Swarm of Bees" is all clean singing, which works and all but the heavies were probably a little peeved when this was released. This track is still busting with growls as well as the band's most progressive instrumental work. "Advancement Towards Nothingness" is crazy heavy and is more death metal than any songs mentioned previously. Wowza.
In the end, this was a very talented band that released three above average albums, although you won't find me listening to them much anymore.
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2003 - The Cassandra Complex cdEP
2003 - Not One Word Has Been Omitted cdEP (same as previous EP)
2005 - Delenda cdLP
2008 - Conversations cdLP
(2003) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - "I Tried Voodoo Once" (from 'The Cassandra Complex/Not One Word Has Been Omitted')
(2005) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - "Ghosts Over Japan" (from 'Delenda')
(2005) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - "These Lights Above Us" (from 'Delenda') official music video
(2008) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - "Most Of Us Are Normal" (from 'Conversations')
(2004) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - Metal Injection interview
2003 - Not One Word Has Been Omitted cdEP (same as previous EP)
2005 - Delenda cdLP
2008 - Conversations cdLP
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(2003) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - "I Tried Voodoo Once" (from 'The Cassandra Complex/Not One Word Has Been Omitted')
(2005) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - "Ghosts Over Japan" (from 'Delenda')
(2005) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - "These Lights Above Us" (from 'Delenda') official music video
(2008) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - "Most Of Us Are Normal" (from 'Conversations')
(2004) FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW - Metal Injection interview
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FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW out of print wma discography download
(download here)
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