Robots And EmpireI was happy to see this show up in the mail because I reviewed the band's previous full length (Click here to read review for "Cast Shadows On Dragons") on Glacial Records (which is owned and operated by Robots and Empire) and I was eager to see how these guys have transformed since that last release. I was a little surprised to see this come out on Trip Machine though, even though both the band and label are based out of the NY area. It made a little more sense though when I read that the band has ex-members from Drowning Room, which had worked before with Trip Machine.
Well anyway, these Poughkeepsie, NY inhabitants are already on their third full length since only forming back in 2004. After the first thorough listen of this 14 track album, it is evident that these guys are hitting their stride playing their unique brand of post-hardcore space doom. From one track to the next the band slips and slides in and out of different sounds and atmospheres all while maintaining a certain amount of consistency. You have a song like "The Midst of This", which is extremely droned out, with singing and all then you have a song like "Erase Your Name" which is a straight up knock you in the teeth mid paced hardcore song. It doesn't seem as though the band has any set formula for writing songs, each song is different from the next; different tempos, different set ups, different times etc,. The band definitely has a leg up on bands similar to them sheerly because of their extremely talented and diverse vocalist who can scream his ass off but bust off with some really awesome singing parts, and I don't say that often because usually hate that stuff.
Lyrically I have no real good idea of what is going without the lyrics but I'd assume if it is anything like their previous release it is some crazy shit. I wonder if they have taken any lyrical themes from the book "Robots And Empire" written by Isaac Asimov?
Really good job done by Dean Baltulonis from Atomic Records Co. The tone of the album is exceptional. The tone of the guitar is absolutely perfect, it isn't exactly driven by overdrive and distortion rather a very versatile tone that works well for any occasion. And the eerie droning of the guitars during certain parts of songs really helps to create that ‘spacey' atmosphere. As stated by the band when recording, the bass tone is ‘absolutely thunderous'. Oh man do the vocals sound good, whether or not the vocalist is screaming, singing, shouting, etc., it sounds awesome. The drums have a very crisp tone with a really good snare tone, the bass kick could've been a little more pronounced but it's not bad.
Damn for some reason I'm really, really liking the design and layout of this album. The front cover has a picture of a turtle with hollow eye sockets that are emitting colorful lasers out of its cavities while it's being held up by some unknown creature. When you fold out the booklet, it vertically displays the strange green monster that is holding the turtle across three of the panels. Even though the band opted not to display any of the lyrics in the booklet, they used the space up nicely. The four panels are vertically covered with flying turtles with lasers shooting out of their eyes with all kinds of helicopters flying around, the way it was designed it looks like a video game from Super Nintendo or something. Really cool design and execution.
Rating: 3.7/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Flightless Wonder, Erase Your Name and Pure Shit
Synopsis: Damn, I was into their previous album but not nearly as much as this one, it just seems so much more natural. These guys are really able to bring all of their influences out of their bag and incorporate into one mind fuck of a listening experience. This is something that any post-hardcore fan can get into (Orange 9mm, Quicksand, Into Another, Cast Iron Hike) as well as anyone that enjoys space rock (Shiner, Deftones, Failure).
Head on over to the bands MySpace page to check out four of the tracks off this album, if you are feeling it, don't be a pussy bitch and rip it off soulseek or whatever Torrent kids are using, make the god damned purchase!