| CD REVIEW Finish Him! |
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Band: Finish Him! Prior before being founded in mid 2007 by Hand and Gerald, the members of Finish Him! (lead singer/ keyboardist/ samples handler Mitchel Hand, rhythm guitarist/ singer/ programmer Ryan “Flea” Tyrell, lead guitarist/ singer Sean Bickerton, bassist/ singer Richard Coomber, and drummer/ singer Robbie Gerald) had all played in other bands, some of which were even highly regarded in the local Coventry (Midlands, UK) music scene, but nothing could’ve predicted the freak-out element that would grow from the bringing together of these five individuals! Following a couple of months of intense rehearsals, gigs, and demo recording, the boys (none of ‘em’s older than 24, the bassist only 18) retired into the Premier Sound Studios in Corby during April 2008, where renowned producer Iain Wetherall (who’s worked with the likes of Skindred, Raging Speedbull, and Beecher in the past) gave their debut album his usual quality stamp! After that, it took some time for the album to get finished (you know, it still needed mixing and mastering). Talks with Casket/ Copro about the distribution of the album started somewhere in July, but due to several delays the label was only able to start pressing the CD in February 2009. Then the booklet still followed… You might jokingly give their music the general categorisation of Hardcore, but there’s a party element in the band’s music that goes far beyond the sometimes restricting boundaries of that genre! To begin with, the Hardcore is fused with Metal, and in between the heavier passages of the music you’ll find hybridisations with Jazz, Funk, Hip Hop…and even Ambient in the calmest moments. The band claims to take influences from the a range of bands from The Chariot, Every Time I Die, Glassjaw, Isis, Deftones, Dillinger Escape Plan, Architects and Norma Jean to James Brown (and a variety of movies/ television shows), but even that does not clarify the intensive frenzy that can be found in each of the sometimes lengthy songs (there’s also two instrumentals on the album, which are far more unified in their mood, “Escape From Groznygrad” being a chill-out Drum ‘n’ Bass track – TRULY!!! – and “Skynet – We Came, We Saw, We Conquered” a very nice short piano piece!). In each song (varying in length from 3 ½ minutes to 8 ½), you’ll find the guys going completely bezerk on the one side, using screamed vocals, then seething down halfway through the track for a calmer passage! It’s really hard to explain, as it demands a song-by-song explanation (and possibly a note-sheet as well)! In other words, you’ll need to surf to myspace.com/scorpionwinsfatality to get a whiff of the band’s feel-good kind of Hardcore. The 4 tracks (which really only leaves out 4 others) posted are more than enough to show you what these youngsters are about (pity you don’t get to hear the two instrumentals…but then the band can’t actually go about posting àll their songs, can they now?!). Whatever you think about it, I’ve found yet another entry for my “Best Albums Of 2009”-list! Yabba-dabba-doo-oohhh!!! 98/100 Tony. |