Band : Return To Earth
Album title : Automata
Label : Metal Blade Records
Distributor : Rough Trade Benelux
Release date : 13/08/2010
Release: CD

Take a bowl, throw some Dillinger Escape Plan, Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead in it, mix it and what do you get? A shitty, over-the-top complex band? No, not at all! What you get is a genius band called Return To Earth. Most people will skip this band as the bandname is not that creative, but those people really should think twice. This band is a combination of musicians who have already achieved quite a lot in the music industry.

On vocals, we have mister Ron Scalzo. On this album he proves that he can handle many genres and that he can twist his voice just in the way the song requires it to be. His main influence though is Rock music, in the likes of Trent Reznor and Mike Patton. The second song on the album, “You Will Be Replaced”, proves this, just as one of the last songs on the album, “God at the End of the World”. Scalzo also added the electro to the album, since he is songwriter for another project of his, called Q*Ball. Next to this master brain, we have Chris Pennie behind the drums. He’ll probably ring a bell with people who are into math rock, as he was the former drummer of The Dillinger Escape Plan. Currently he’s is touring with Coheed And Cambria. He can be called the master brain behind Return To Earth as he wrote most of the material. Especially in songs like “Edge of Forever”, “Back of my Hand” and “The Dots do not Connect” his influence is noticeable. Especially in the latter you are blown away by the amazing drumming skills of Pennie. Last but not least, we have Brett Aveni. He’s not that well-known as the other two, but he has also put a clear mark on this album. He is responsible for a big part of the Rock influence, from which “Night of the Exploding Razors” is a very good example.

As you can read, Return To Earth is not a band easy to be classified. Fans of the more mainstream Muse and fans of the more extreme The Dillinger Escape Plan will definitely be able to do something with this album, although this album is much heavier than the previous one. Don’t be surprised when you see this band tour big venues in support of some major alternative band. How long will it take before they take a headline spot?

83/100

Nick Tronckoe.