| CD REVIEW Iwrestledabearonce |
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Band : Iwrestledabearonce Weird bandname, wouldn’t you agree? Well, I can asure you that the music made by the five people behind the bandname is equally as weird…but exhilerating to the extreme! I guess the best way to describe it would be to label it as “Avant Garde Metal”, which is a good as saying nothing at all. In fact, the band incorporates shreds of several genres and subgenres into their stuff: Mathcore, Metalcore, electronica, Dance, Industrial, Jazz, Funk, Hip Hop, ProgRock…and even Bluegrass! Founded during 2007, the original quintet fronted by female vocalist Krysta Cameron and guitarist/ programmer/ samples & keyboards player Steven Bradley self-released a 6-track (one of which a remix, I understand) self-titled EP in December of that same year. Since then, the Shreveport, Lousiana based band has support slots in ours with Greeley Estates, Sea Of Treachery, See You Next Tuesday, The Human Abstract, and Winds Of Plague. In the US their full-length album (recorded/produced by Ryan Boesch at the studios of the famed RossRobinson) was already released on July 2nd, and during the Summer the quintet (beyond Krysta and Steven there’s also guitarist/ programmer/ samples & keyboards player John Ryan aka John Ganey, bassist Dave Branch, and drummer/ backing singer Mikey Montgomery) was already sent out on a tour in support of All Shall Perish, August Burns Red, Bless The Fall, and Enter Shikari! At this very moment, they’re still roaming through the US on the Altamont Never Say Die club tour, sponsored by Imperial Clothing & Jägermeister. In November the same sponsors financed a European leg of that tour (redubbed Imperial Never Say Die Tour), headlined by Despised Icon & Architects, with also As Blood Runs Black, Horse The Band, Oceano, and The Ghost Inside playing. Dates on this 23-gig event include concerts in Holland (Eindhoven’s Effenaar on Nov. 8) and Belgium (Muziek-O-Droom in Hasselt on Nov. 21)! Right, back to the music…which is topped by the lovely Krysta! She’s a wacky one, that…at one mooment singing quite normally (and a very fine clean singing voice she has indeed), then going into a girlie mode, and on the other side screaming/ screaching like a banshee! There’s also growls, but to be quite fair I cannot make out whether those don’t àll come from the drummer! There’s quite some angular hooks to the band’s music, and through the samples you’ll find some véry weird occasions indeed…like suddenly you’ll hear a horse [after the County (Bluegrass) -ish passage in album opener “You Ain’t No Family”], a harp and car horn (“Tastes Like Kevin Bacon”, the song also opening with rather EBM-styled keyboards/ electronics), or a harmonium (at the end of “The Cat’s Pajamas”). Keyboards can be found played in different modes: orchestral (to emulate violins & cello), synthetic (gives some of the tracks a wacky Dance touch), atmospheric (speaks for itself), or as piano (and there’s actually quite a few of such short moments). Avant-Garde Metal is what this would be called, but for the short (only 2 ½ minutes long) track “Black-Eyed Bush” there ain’t even no Metal involved, the song revolving on soft synthetics with additional percussion in the background, and Krysta’s soft voice growing from that same background into normal strength! Best check it all out at myspace.com/iwrestledabearonce (the band also has a page on last.fm), where you’ll also find some video footage of the band in the studio, as well as clips for two of the band’s songs (and after seeing those I can confirm that the growled vocals are indeed also Krysta’s – now I’m left wondering how the band plans to bring those two songs on the album where her growled obviously go together with her girlie/ normal clean ones)! Personally, I’m hooked…line & sinker…bought & sold, whatever! I’m definitely gonna try and get myself one of the (limited amount) vinyl versions of the album. And with all that said, you won’t be surprised to find It’s All Happening catapulted into my “Best Albums Of 2009”-lists, will you? 98/100 Tony. |