Well, I thought I'd type up a track by track review of this one for those who care to read it. This is the best CD I've heard in a long time. If you like Tool, Dream Theater, or just music in general you'll like this CD. It's very prog-ish at times, while also being catchy, etc. Some tracks feature a Jerry Jones
Baritone guitar (first time used by the band), so that's what I'm referring to when I mention them.
1) 0157:H (3:46)
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"...and this is me hangin' on." Great opening track, very cool build up, kinda trippy and soft at the beginning with the electronic drums and synths, and getting heavy...really heavy. The bass sound is amazing here.
2) Choke (4:1
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Running straight from 0157:H, this song starts out with a heavy delay-and-harmonics riff, and just gets heavier. A great, angry song, some people think it's about their old singer, Edwin. Very anthemic chorus, much like most of the songs on here. Soft middle section, electronic drums, then suddenly getting heavy, for the guitar solo, simple, yet cool.
3) I Is Us (5:43)
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A real head-bobbing type song. Starts with this really cool effect-soaked electric drum part at the beginning. The vocals come in at the same time as the guitar, a baritone, semi-distorted. Droning, with amazing vocals overtop. Kinda dark sounding, until the pre-chorus which sounds brighter. Then, the chorus, heavy and brutal. Very cool. A very anthemic, triumphant song. No guitar solo on this one, probably the only one without one.
4) God Rocket (Into The Heart Of Las Vegas) (6:49)
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Starts out with a low pulsing synth part. Effected vocals come in. Very beautiful, amazing song. Difficult to put into words. Some people think it may have been written about 9-11. The middle section is just amazing. The tempo picks up a bit, and the song just pushes forward. Amazing instrumentals...then suddenly it drops off. Just a pulsing synth drum in the background. Soft vocals, with aggressive hits from the full band. Then it becomes heavy again, and finishes soft again.
5) Like The Sun (4:15)
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Real Video
Quicktime Video(available here)
The first single from the album. Great track, heavy choruses (mostly thanks to the baritone guitar), great guitar solo/bridge. Very catchy melodies, lots of energy. Not the most intricate track on the CD, but still amazing.
6) Hell & Malfunction (7:00)
Starts out with spoken word, sampled from "the japanese wife" by Charles Bukowski. Enter soft, clean guitars. HUGE choruses. Amazing melodies again, very cool song. But in a 7 minute song, you know that's not all there is. HUGE bridge. This one would be amazing live. Slow, driving, heavy section. AMAZING guitar solo, thanks in part to a
Digitech Whammy pedal. Then, into a cool instrumental section. Soft clean guitar, playing a very cool syncopated type thing. Vocals come back in, still soft. Back to the huge chorus again, until the end.
7) Soft Bomb Salad (7:3
Begins with a cool bass and drum thing, and soft guitar comes in with the vocals, simple to begin with, but very cool. Cool chorus, very catchy, still soft. Suddenly a cool, almost funky guitar part comes in, joined soon by the whole band. The song suddenly becomes kinda heavy. Cool guitar solo, can't place my finger on it, but it sounds very similar to something I've heard before. Layered lead parts now, all over the stereo spectrum. Very cool. In a bit of an odd time signature. In fact, that's one thing that makes this song not simple at all, it's rhythms and time signatures are all very different, and cool. Soft ending, with the chorus.
Juicy (4:12)
Featured on the "xXx" Canadian soundtrack as a last minute addition, begins with slap guitar. Very funky, high energy song, and very heavy. A great one live (saw them back in October). The middle section has got to be one of the coolest I've ever heard. The guitar goes into this cool layered, clean-tone tapping part, that just amazed me, cuz he could do it LIVE! Then, a great, screaming guitar solo. Back to the chorus, and the end.
9) No Coma (4:2
Softer song, very emotional. Very cool. Lots of arpeggiated type stuff. Big, heavy chorus again. Very catchy melodies. Would make a great single, while still complex enough to not be "Just a single". "Tell everyone I'm numb...", the line from the chorus, sums up how you should be feeling by this point in the CD, and prepares you for what's about to come.
10) Meat Dreams (8:21)
I. Umbilical Transmissions
II. We Be Nine
III. That's Quite An Erection Eric
IV. Blondes And Bluster
THIS IS HUGE! This is a huge, prog-like song. Devided into four parts (as seen above) this song is full of way too much amazing stuff to put into words. The guitar, the bass, the drums, the vocals, ALL AMAZING! This song is worth the price of the CD ($13.99 in Canada) alone. Huge sections, with lots of layered guitars, with a sound that I can't quite put a finger on, but have heard before... Some of the lead work borders on shred.
11) Passenger/A Moment Of Extreme Violence (bonus track) (9:00)
Passenger: A softer song, with electric piano, synth strings, synth drums and vocals. No guitar, bass, or actual drums. Very melodic, very emotional, very dark, very very cool.
A Moment Of Extreme Violence: Crickets provide the backing for this funky, almost country sounding baritone guitar solo track. Clean tone, with heavy tremolo (effect, not bar) use. I think there's some slap in there too.
There's the review, this is a huge CD, and takes a lot to take in. Best listened to uninterupted, and straight from beginning to end. Unfortunately, it's not available in stores in the States, or some other countries (Canadian band, and not
hugely successful outside of Canada) but it is available from their
site.
