I think I have found the musical equivalent of the “extreme
guys” from the movie Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.
Montreal-based band Despised Icon certainly is extreme metal
in more than just name. This music is chaotic and brutal.
Shifting vocal styles, time signatures and mixing it up with
death metal and a groove-oriented approach, they might be
the most hardcore bunch of Quebecois since the Rougeau Brothers,
or at the very least, Kataklysm.
This is not music to seduce your girlfriend to, unless she’s
like the chick from Swimfan. Most metal singers either
have a high-pitched scream or a growl of doom. Despised Icon’s
singers, Alexandre Erian and Steve Marois, have both; at its
deepest; the growl sounds sort of like an owl in a tree. It’s
a tough band to classify because they shift styles so much;
it’s not quite death metal, it’s not quite hardcore
and it’s not really groove metal, although there are
elements of all three. The only constant is that drummer Alexandre
Pelletier is a busy man behind the kit, showing so much speed
I worried he would pull a Mick Shrimpton and spontaneously
combust. I don’t know if he’s as fast as the dude
from The Berzerker is, but at least he’s in a better
band.
I suppose I have yet to answer the real question: Is this
record any good? Yeah, if you’re into extreme metal,
you’ll really dig it. There’s enough moshpit material
here to warrant having the EMTs on standby at Despised Icon’s
shows. They will keep you headbanging, that’s for sure.
They will not bore you. The band doesn’t so much engage
a listener as take them by force with no Vaseline. It’s
a full-on metal assault that doesn’t slow down until
the surprising guitar melody on the final track, “Fainted
Blue Ornaments.”
If you’re not a big fan of this style of music, it
will require you to be in certain mood, like when it’s
been a shitty day, you’re on a long drive, you need
an alternative soundtrack for a “Madden” game
or if you’re at home on a Sunday writing album reviews. It’s
not always easy music to listen to, but it is fairly coherent
and at least with these guys there’s a method to the
mayhem. |
