Back in December the band I do vocals for called THE WORLD THAT SUMMER recorded 7 songs. We only had time to do vocals for three of them so they became our side of the APOSTLES OF ERIS split cassette. These songs are definitely our softest (although there's screaming throughout) and showcase a style that was more prevalent in the first month or so of our conception. We have since moved to a much heavier and diverse sound that can be heard live or on our upcoming releases, a split 7" with Nionde Plagan and a 2x12" 8-band split, both being released later this year. We also plan on doing a 7" with two new songs that we still need to record. Our band is influenced primarily by screamo, hardcore and post-metal although each song generally hits a few different genres. Here is our exclusive premiere for "Swine Dialect Incantation" and you can jam/download the entire split here. There's also a live video of us playing this song at our first ever show right here.
THE WORLD THAT SUMMER "Swine Dialect Incantation"
In 2015 I went on tour with мятеж and we needed a bass player. I contacted Jesse Mowery because we met online and had many similar interests, especially when it came to screamo. We bonded like long, lost, separated kin and decided to do more stuff together in the future. When The World That Summer was formed Jesse asked if his solo project APOSTLES OF ERIS could do a split with us and we agreed right away. Jesse also asked if I wanted to put some vocals on one of his tracks which I thought was a cool idea because I thoroughly enjoyed screaming back and for with him in мятеж. He sent me a track to which I wrote lyrics to about religion being the worst invention (along with money) and sent it back to him. He wrote his own part and voila, here is the exclusive premiere of "Putting Faith Into Fantasy" which is a killer track with amazing instrumentals that remind me of a spazzier Daitro. As stated above the entire split can be streamed and downloaded here.
Label(s): Self Released This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #3.
You can download: the March Mix#4 right hereor get the new April 2016 Mix#5 here.
A year or two ago I did a video interview with Daniel Wilson of DGAW (linked here) in which he suggested I check out a defunct rock/metal band from Mississauga. I leapt in and was instantly floored by the sludgy metalcore with a quirky, sassy twist and venomous screamy vocals that included the occasional lapse into whining insanity. My wife coined the comparison "Rye Coalition meets Converge" after hearing "❏", which is a rompy affair that truly lends itself to both bands, being rock oriented and sassy as well as batshit crazy with perhaps the best female vocals I've ever heard. This was the song that really made me pursue the band more and I'm hella glad that I did.
The band began in 2005 and released their first split in 2006 with local legends Strawman Fallacy. The two songs are strongly rooted in metalcore not unlike Curl Up And Die and Crestfallen with "Clap For Chlamydia" being my personal favourite. The following year they dropped a decent self Titled LP that showed a much more experimental and sassy side, with a prime example being "Hal Johnson & Joanne MCLeod" that manages to sound like Converge and Die Princess Die, especially with the vocal variations from 1:02 to 1:30 and 2:30 to the end. "Rammatek" is insanely heavy and "Salmon Goggles" is fucking weird as shit.
After three years of silence THE LOVE AND TERROR CULT released their masterpiece 'We Are You On Fire', which could not have been titled more aptly. The combination of Botchy breakdowns, Rye Coalition sass-rock and Converge vocals merge seamlessly, with the aforementioned "❏" and the title track being downright amazing tracks. "We Are You On Fire" is probably my favourite jam, with in unbelievable amount of energy and drive. The song begins with the wrenching screams of Justine 18 seconds in "Out city is on fire!" then hits a ridiculously good stop (save the vocals) at 36 and 65 seconds right before blasting into Botch and The Chariot territory. Seriously this album is unreal.
Like, seriously seriously, this band was unreal. It's unfortunate I never got to see them but at least I know about them now. Thank you, Daniel G. Wilson.
Label(s): Level Plane Records This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #7.
You can download: the March Mix#4 right hereor get the new April 2016 Mix#5 here.
THE STATE SECEDES were a band a first heard because they were associated with Level Plane Records and back in the 2000s I ate that shit up. Looking back now I see that they had an insanely good list of related bands but this single set of songs released by THE STATE SECEDES tops them all and uses the album as a conduit for their collective consciousness (primarily politically and socially motivated) known as "The State".
The only release by the band (and second ever Level Plane release) has a deceptive first instrumental track that leads into the massive 8:28 "Untitled for You" that is late 90s screamo goodness not unlike fellow Level Plane alumni City Of Caterpillar. From three minutes to well past five the band takes a very similar path to early Joshua Fit For Battle with dueling vocals and amazing angular chords. "Pearls for Swine" is my favourite track and is a slower, brooding song that sounds a little bit like a ton of different bands, most of which came after THE STATE SECEDES, although Maximillian Colby, Rites Of Spring and Portraits Of Past certainly predate this. The dissonance and abrasive, swaying rhythms eventually lead way to The Exploder style dancey, screamy hardcore. "Apple of My Eye" is pretty decent and even includes some singing, "Mukhortui" is an instrumental interlude and "Rodan" isn't far off from a condensed version of "Untitled For You" with strong nods to Funeral Diner, Rites Of Spring and Indian Summer. "And Near Sky Blues" is a very chill song with angelic female vocals while the closer "Excelsior" is epic with an awesome slowdown before four minutes that is equally eerie and pulsating that leads to an overly long outro that repeats for nearly three more minutes.
I remember the cd had an insane amount of political text to the point where the lyric book barely fit under the semi-circles. If you happen across this cd (which seems rather likely, as I remember seeing the cd online everywhere for $1) I'd recommend picking it up as the album stands up as beyond decent some 18 years following its release.
Genres: Punk / Hardcore / Emo / Screamo / Skramz / Thrash Related artists: ?. Country: Curitiba BRAZIL Years Active: 2014-present Song: "Meursault" Album: "Viver-só" Year: 2014 For fans of: Orchid, Danse Macabre, Colonia, Det Ar Darfor Vi Bygger Stader, ¡Silencio, Ahora, Silencio!, Storm{o}, Ubiquity, Jenny Piccolo, Lamantide, Kaospilot, Tetola93, Ruined Families, Joliette and Yr Sbraito aka PROPER SCREAMO.
Label(s): Bridge Of Loneliness / Swollen Lungs This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #8.
You can download: the March Mix#4 right hereor get the new April 2016 Mix#5 here.
CONCRETO MORTO play spastic screamo from Brazil. I was turned on to the band by Ryan Hill as 'Viver-só' was released by his new label Bridge Of Loneliness (he also plays in Yusuke and Kelut) as well as the Swollen Lungs label. The band has a lot going for them in such a short time, so let's discuss why.
In 2014 the band recorded two live sets listed as "bootlegs" which were a good precursor to the proper recordings put forth as the LP and subsequent EP (although the EP was recorded live). These two bootlegs are a good introduction to the band but don't stop there, as the quality don't really do the band justice but the passion soaks through even more on the live versions of the songs.
Later in 2014 CONCRETO MORTO dropped their debut release titled 'Viver-só'. "À base de convulsões prévias, errôneas." screams Danse Macabre and Orchid worship, especially the instrumentals. The vocals are throaty without being overly screamy most of the time, which end up sounding like Storm{o}, although when shit gets shriller Danse Macabre and Kaospilot wouldn't be too far off. There are times when the vocals are mixed a little too high and I'm not the biggest fan of the singing/talking that goes on sporadically, such as at the end of "Poesia (ruim) escrita com gasolina". Regardless, this is a very decent first release.
In early 2016 the band dropped a new EP called 'A necessidade de produzir sempre foi antagonista do desejo de criar' which is pretty jammy, as "Documento #2 [A necessidade de produzir sempre foi antagonista do desejo de criar]" is a very solid track with some cool noodley parts that remind me of Raein and Healing Powers. Three of the five songs are noise tracks which means I'll never listen to them again, but maybe you like noise? If so, you'll love tracks 1, 3 and 5.
I'm excited to see where they go next cuz the growth from the 2014 LP to the 2016 EP is undeniable.
2016 - A necessidade de produzir sempre foi antagonista do desejo de criar EP (stream/download here)
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(2016) CONCRETO MORTO - "Documento #2 [A necessidade de produzir sempre foi antagonista do desejo de criar]" (from 'A necessidade de produzir sempre foi antagonista do desejo de criar')
(2016) CONCRETO MORTO - "Documento #2 [O Germinal]" (from 'A necessidade de produzir sempre foi antagonista do desejo de criar')
(2014) CONCRETO MORTO - "À base de convulsões prévias, errôneas." (from 'Viver-só')
(2014) CONCRETO MORTO - "Servil" (from 'Viver-só')
Justin has been at it for a very long time. Playing with Adam (drums/art) for almost two decades, GRAF ORLOCK and Vitriol Records have been in the thick of cinema-grind since the turn of the century. I have been following the band and therefore the label since purchasing the Graf Orlock/Greyskull split 12" that houses the vinyl in a backpack jacket and all the lyrics and songs are about Total Recall. Needless to say, the packaging and music were a combo I had never seen done so well, so I began grabbing everything by the band that followed over the years, including the Destination Time series and the holy grail which is the Doombox. Read the interview OMSB had with Justin about everything Gorlock and Vitriol. Jam some new songs while you read and then head over to Vitriol's site to pick up a copy of the new 12"LP that is the most engaging and thought provoking packaging I've ever had the pleasure of studying.
*Check out Vitriol Records and their bandcamp hereand order the 12"LPhere.
*buy the 12"LP in Canada from the Zegema Beach Records distro here, as well as the Doombox and other 7"s by the band, (((((OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain))))) reviewed the band's pre-2014 discography which is linked here and is a pretty decent record of some of the band's exploits in terms of packaging, shirts and what movies the audio clips come from.
***THE INTERVIEW***
Why the
name, GRAF ORLOCK? When the
band was starting, I wanted it to be something that was NOT genre
specific. Most people still can’t properly spell the name, and that it was
one of early film’s finest vampire flicks only makes sense when you have a
Cinema-grind band.
What
bands have most directly influenced GRAF ORLOCK’s songs over the years?
I would
say more that certain scenes influenced us. There were never any bands
in particular that we wanted to sound like or emulate, it was more a
thing where we were interested in having a black metal part, or a death metal
riff, or something that sounded like it was from the 90s MTV Buzz Bin. All of
it adds up to the barely listenable monstrosity that is our back
catalog.
Tell us
about the new album. The concept? The writing process? The sound? The
packaging? Crime
traveler is essentially the movie that we always wanted to make. It is
fundamentally an action movie with biting social, economic, and diplomatic
critique all through the lens of a time traveling Canadian assassin. When
we were in film school, prior to being kicked out, this is what we were working
on. I suppose you could say it is a meisterwerke of moronic proportions,
if you are into those kind of things.
Are you
embarking on any upcoming tours? Going to
Europe with our sibling band Ghostlimb for a month in summer 2016 and might try
to dabble beneath the equator in Australia’s summer/our winter later on. Have
not been there since 2010 and I feel like we are neglecting that
hemisphere.
What has
been the most difficult song to write? The easiest? I
wouldn’t say any of them are particularly HARD, it is just the process. Alan
the drummer and I have always written all of the songs, and they just work the
way they work. We get in our tiny practice space and play whatever we would
want to hear in a ripping thrash song or depressing ass death metal song. It is
fairly organic and since we have been playing together for 17 years or so, I
don’t like to think about it.
What is
the best GRAF ORLOCK tour story? Several
that get us in trouble whenever I tell them to people. So for now just leave it
at “arrestable”.
Considering
the point of this blog is to introduce people to new bands, which bands would
you recommend checking out?I would
say check out this upcoming release by a band called Asphalt Graves, they are
ripping death grind with a bunch of members of every band ever.
How do
you find out about new music?
I run the
label that puts out most of this stuff, so it is usually through looking
around, distros, or really touring a lot. In that way you are exposed to a lot
of stuff you wouldn’t be as a normal wasting their life in a fucked up, creme
colored cubicle.
What is
the easiest and most difficult part about running a record label? Easiest
is not having to talk to anyone about anything, no manager, no boss, no one to
ask to mail me records. The difficult part is the entitlement culture the
internet fosters when you’re trying to run a mail order label as well as the
omnipresent and shadowy demon that is money.
What has
been the label’s best and worst experience thus far? There
have been some records that have done phenomenally well, and others that come
out RIGHT after the band broke up. That is always a total bummer in terms of
momentum and finances. It is always impossible to keep up with whatever the
hype is lately and chances are if you can capture it, people would be over it
by the time it is 6 months down the line for record pressing. I think (and I
suppose this is an argument for musical elitism) things should be like they
were back in the day, HARDER to find, perhaps then people would be more
invested in it and not jump on in 2 months.
How has
music influenced your life?
It has
wonderfully benefitted me, the experiences of traveling, the majority of my
friends now are somehow involved in music. It is also a difficult commitment,
touring has a pleasant way of ruining relationships. Generally it is good
though, would not be the same without it, and would have probably released my
mortal coil by now otherwise.
Can you
please describe the chronological musical progression of your life?
When I
was a kid I listened to oldies, then I discovered Metallica, the Misfits and
Samhain, played metal and punk since then, which I suppose has been most my
life.
How would
you describe VITRIOL Records? It is not
as much a sound but is more about capturing what is going on at a particular
time and place. It could be more of a historical documentation if you will, of
things most of the rest of the world may never have known about otherwise. It
is important I think, regardless of the morass of money and time it
becomes.
Can you
reveal anything interesting about yourself and/or the label that the readers
are not aware of? We do a
whole lot of things when not doing this. I’m a history lecturer, there are
people across the bands I am in that are draftsmen, landscape architects, graphic
designers, Phd students, and across the spectrum. We do this stuff for fun and
expression, sometimes it feels like it, but no one ever wants this to be our
jobs.
Can you
explain, perhaps specifically - the catalyst for you founding VITRIOL Records?
I would assume GRAF ORLOCK related stuff.
In 2008
we were set to put out a Ghostlimb and Graf Orlock release before a Euro tour,
the other label folded so I put them out and started the label. That was 47
releases ago. In the end it is better doing things autonomously.
Can you
explain how you come up with the name VITRIOL Records?
In
literary criticism it is a “bitter or caustic critique” or chemical origin in
the word. This seems best to describe the general feelings I had/have toward
the world and somehow manage to also put an objective, albeit harsh tinge to
all of it.
What was
the biggest initial obstacle when starting VITRIOL? We had done
all of the legwork on other releases people we knew had put out for us, so it
was just figuring out distro and trying to get records out there. Now the
difficultly is letting people know they exist in a world of insane white
noise.
How did
you fund your first few releases?
Working.
What
criteria makes you choose a record to release?
First, I
have to like it, but generally it is projects with friends and people I know. I
think out of 47 releases there have only been 2 bands I didn’t know personally
before we started working on stuff together.
How in
the hell do you figure out what you are going to do in terms of packaging for a
release? You have so many different kinds of releases! Adam is
the graphic design guy and the drummer for gorlock. We would come up with
stupid ideas and then see if they were executable by the pressing plants. Also,
if you are going to go through the trouble of making a physical product it
should be worth having. Those records were just dumb ideas we talked about and
then he made happen and then I put them out. Really the best way to do things.
Those would have never flown if some other label did it for us.
What was
the motivation behind the idea of the Doombox box set? We went
to Europe one winter and made a backpack record design (Graf Orlock/Greyskull
split), we also wanted to make a fanny pack 7” but that never came to fruition.
The boombox was along the lines of seeing what we could make work and then
putting it to the plant to see what they could make work. You should have
seen the CD version for Destination time Today that never got made.
What movies may pop up in future GRAF ORLOCK releases?
Since we
made a new record off our own movie I am not certain what lies ahead. Suffice
it to say I like action movies and documentaries.
What is
the most exciting thing to happen to music as of late? Definitely
not endless reunions of every band that ever existed. Now every band that plays
live is dealing with the entire history of punk and hardcore in summer when
you’re trying to tour this is totally frustrating.
What is
the most frustrating thing about the "music industry"?
Flooding the
market with a whole bunch of stuff that isn’t good, and convincing young bands
that they need someone to help them and can’t do it themselves.
Have there
been movies that one band member really wanted to incorporate into a song that
was scratched because other members weren’t in agreement? Oh hell no, if you have listened to these songs you know that they have a
really low bar for acceptance.
What are
your opinions regarding the remakes of Total Recall and Commando? What are your
thoughts on AvP and Prometheus? Remakes
are like reunions, go do something else. What? There aren’t enough stories in
the world?
What are
your thoughts on superhero movies? Punisher.
What’s
the best Alien movie? Why? Aliens,
Space Marines LV-426. Hudson.
What the
best Predator movie? Why? The first one is a near perfect film that cannot be surpassed by any other related film.
What’s the
best Arnold movie? Why?
T2. Classic. “Easy money”, “Wolfie"
Have you
dabbled in film?
We have a movie coming out of our new record. It is going to be moronic
as all hell.
GRAF ORLOCK 'Crime Traveler'
track-by-track
"Bad Cell Service on Connecticut Avenue"
A blasting affair sets the tone right of the bat with some massive breakdowns making an entrance around 1:15. The classic GRAF ORLOCK sound permeates the final 20 seconds with metallic hardcore and thrash mixed with grind and it's a beautiful, devastating thing.
"600,000 Tons of Explosive Ordnance"
This song is fucking huge. The opening sounds like a death scene while the 2:16 stop and start is amazing. The song then leaps into a guitar solo followed by a slower vocal exchange with caustic screamin' and yellin'.
"Afternoon Lunch at the Red Bacchus"
Track three starts quite slowly for a GRAF ORLOCK song but the tension builds and just after the one-minute mark shit gets crazy. The guitar wailing after 1:32 is also a nice touch, as are the drums after two minutes that lead to the climactic close.
"A Decent Proposal in a Shitty Alley"
This song is all about the atmosphere. The entire thing reeks of dirt, grit and sewage systems which begins to build at 1:46 and culminates at 2:09 with a fucking prodigious breakdown vast enough to ride out the remaining minute and half of sludgy, hardcore perfection.
"Regional Turf War Spills Blood on Vegas Strip"
This song begins with one of the best intros and then barrels through 2:23 of classic Gorlock palm-muted cinema-grind including the phenomenally powerful 1:14-1:32 section and the first pretty yet uncomfortable piano outro.
"Nursing a Hangover"
Another biting intro on this one focuses on the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster before laying absolute and utter waste to your face, hitting plad speed with those drums at 1:33 and delivering a pummeling blow after the 2:44-mark.
"Our Infallible Cybernetic Future"
By the title alone it should be obvious that this is a Terminator song but Arnold's brief dialogue of "negative" gives it away should you bypass the song title. The Gorlock fellas get pretty damn classic halfway through with massive breakdowns, thrashy goodness and dual throat shredding.
"Summer Getaway, Mount Hermon"
This track is quite short, as after the intro it's only about a minute and a half, but the first 40 seconds slays and the final minute provides a sweet build to a crushing climax.
"Difficult Decisions in the Yutani Mess Hall"
Ahhhh the Aliens song. "Yutani" gives that away but the space marine dialogue further reinforces that. Right after the one minute mark the track is torn apart in a chaotic whirlwind of infinite weight and is one of the heaviest parts on the album.
"Cheaper, Safer, and Better than the Real Thing"
And here it is, the epic closer. Beginning with a quick Total Recall intro, this nearly five-minute opus might be the biggest and best thing that GRAF ORLOCK has ever done (save the Jurassic Park song, of course) with calculated and very effective placement of musical violence which mirrors the entire plot of 'Crime Traveler', which is that of a time-traveling French Canadian named Marmot that commits political and environmental espionage in an attempt to bring about the collapse of the United States. But back to the song, as at 2:38 the guitars sound like a T-Rex roaring as the the columns of heaven begin to crack and fall and takes the cake as my favourite Gorlock part ever recorded.
Label(s): Reptilian Records / Jackpot Records / Dim Mak Records / Skylab Operations / Fragil Records / Independence Day This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #10.
You can download: the March Mix#4 right hereor get the new April 2016 Mix#5 here.
THE EXPLODER were a Richmond, Virginia band that began in 1997. They ended up becoming Strike Anywhere. What? Yes, Strike Anywhere. They sound very little like Strike Anywhere and a lot more like late 90s emo/screamo such as Sleepytime Trio, Twelve Hour Turn and early Four Hundred Years.
The 1997 'The Exploder' 7" is much more on the 90s emo side of things, boasting yelled, screamed and awkwardly sung vocals and driving melodies that flop from heavy to serene on a dime. The sound is rooted in hardcore styles also used by Twelve Hour Turn and Indian Summer. The only LP released by THE EXPLODER was 'This Sound Starts Right Now' the same year has eluded me digitally thus far but I've jammed some songs on youtube and it sounds like the stepping stone from the 7" to the 1998 material, with The South and Closure being decent comparisons. The extremely intense "Dedicated to Memory Of..." and "Jane Grey" are the best songs I've heard off it, and holy moly they're killer.
By 1998 THE EXPLODER had morphed into a much sassier beast with dancey and screamy hardcore being the end result and it fucking rules. Songs such as "Last Picture Show" bounce around like Transistor Transistor and Sleepytime Trio and must have been a riot to catch live as I can imagine the members running around screaming like crazy. "Twelve Months" builds for over a minute with biting, Bright Calm Blue talking/yelling vocals before ripping into a bombastic screamy hardcore session reminiscent of Vade and Four Hundred Years. And oh boy those bass lines are just pumpin'. The 'Cut the Chord' is nearly as good, and I would even say more energetic and spastic than the 'Griver split' which was just discussed. "Code Red" and "Aspirin Mouth" should appease any The Blood Brothers and Since By Man fan with all of that back and forth screaming and I'm pretty damn sure that "Self Destruct" includes an appearance by Ralph of Rye Coalition.
From what I've heard of the band's later material it just doesn't really jive with me much. The screamy and driving sounds are gone, although some sass remains it's filtered through some shit that sounds like they're trying too hard, the clean vocals on "The Letter" are a pretty good example.
There's an excellent write up of all the band's material, some of which I haven't heard, linked right here at Creation Of Minerals blog. I hope to acquire the rest of THE EXPLODER's discography and post it as a full discography because this is true 90s emo.
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DISCOGRAPHY Click )==>here<==( to download 3 of the 6 releases in mp3 form.
1997 - The Exploder 7"EP (download in zip here)
1997 - This Sound Starts Right Now cd/12"LP (does anyone have this? if so, please post!)
1998 - Cut the Chord cdEP (download in zip here)
1998 - Griver split 12"LP (download in zip here)
1999 - West End Kids Crusade cd/10"EP (does anyone have this? if so, please post!)
2000 - Cross My Heart split 7"EP (does anyone have this? if so, please post!)
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(1998) THE EXPLODER - "Last Picture Show" (from 'Griver' split)
(1998) THE EXPLODER - "Twelve Months" (from 'Griver' split)
(1998) THE EXPLODER - "Aspirin Mouth" (from 'Cut the Chord')
(1998) THE EXPLODER - "Code Red" (from 'Cut the Chord')
(1997) THE EXPLODER - "Dedicated to Memory Of..." (from 'This Sound Starts Right Now')
(1997) THE EXPLODER - "Jane Grey" (from 'This Sound Starts Right Now')
(1997) THE EXPLODER - "Escrow" (from 'The Exploder')
(2000) THE EXPLODER - "The Letter" (from 'Cross My Heart' split)
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THE EXPLODER out of print mp3/wma partial discography download
Label(s): Self Released / Black Market Activities / Metal Blade Records This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #9.
You can download: the March Mix#4 right hereor get the new April 2016 Mix#5 here.
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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DISCOGRAPHY Click )==>here<==( to download the band's complete discography in wma form.
2003 - The Cassandra Complex cdEP
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
