The Apparatus

 Thursday, 29 November 2007 Within the first 15 seconds of this album I knew this album as going to be good. Kids throw around and overuse the term "brutal" but in "Essence of Brutality" the term is just so clearly defined. DTI have every right to use the term Br00tal and won't be meathead, message board douche bag because their music backs up any doubt.

This North Carolina trio was actually recorded by 2 band members. The irony is that most 4 to 6 piece death metal bands can't pull off this musicianship brutality off. I immediately recognized the Lividity drumming. The guy knows the electric drum kit! I would say Domination Through Impurity are on the same scale as Necrophagist and Origin but alittle less developed.

Most of the time I hate when people say my favorite Tech bands are just "showing off" but in this case I completely agree. The are showing off to their fullest extent ...and they're awesome for it! I'd rather have an endurance challenge in Death Metal because over the past 15 years it's been mostly gimmicky, easy, and monotonous.

The lyrics on Essence of Brutality is your typical revengeful gore theme with ironic lines like "Now they see the real you. You were spineless all along." Cool thing is they do have a political overtone to them as well. They touch on subjects like gluttony, freedom, War, Christianity, child molestation, and rats. So obviously there's more than just a re-hashed autopsy Wiki. This is the essence of skillful death metal as well as sheer brutality.

 Thursday, 29 November 2007 What can you say about Genghis Tron that hasn't been said before? This band is starting to get a ton of press. Their mix of Dance and extreme music is one of the best in genre fusions to date. Their debut EP Cloak of Love has made one big success in the modern underground. Fans of Metal, Hardcore, Dance and Alternative are all meeting together at this single band. This band is what I've been hoping for. This band keeps me listening and wanting more. I love everything about this band except one thing; their taste in Djs for remixes.

Genghis Tron is one part Dance and one part "Grindcore." So when you think of Genghis Tron doing a remix album/EP, you would think they would lean more toward the Dance style. At least that's what I thought. Don't get me wrong. They are decent songs but it's not the Genghis Tron I like. It seems like most of the remixes were just chopped up with a few "bleeps" added on top. It's like these remixes took out the obnoxious and abrupt parts and watered them down.

The demo for Ride the Steamboat is okay. It is just a shittier quality of the Cloak of Love version. It's more for collection than audible pleasure.

There's not really much to talk about for this EP. There are 8 songs (the 3 discomforts are just filler noise tracks, the one demo and then the 4 remixes). When I'm in the mood for Genghis Tron, in all honestly, I'd skip this and go right back to Cloak of Love. With it's high rarity, it's more of a collectors item. Though I did go out of my way to buy Cloak of Love on Picture LP, THIS release I don't see myself going out for my way for. It might be a good listen but not a great one.

 Thursday, 29 November 2007 Maybe in the bigger cities like NY, LA, or Chicago there's shit like this all over but here in Florida, this is the first release around here of this caliber. Everyone in my area calls this "e-grind." Then again, everyone around here is a suburban xREDNECKx. Genghis Tron isn't E-Grind to me. It's really good but not E-Grind.

When I think of the essence of Grindcore, I think of Brutal Truth, Nasum, Rotten Sound, etc. And then I think...those bands have NOTHING in common with Genghis Tron and they neither do with other "e-grind" bands (i.e. A Beautiful Lotus, Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice).

What Genghis Tron is to me is an Alternative band with electronic and dance elements and just so happen to blast the bpms to inhuman numbers once in awhile. Trust me though; they are really fucking good at it! This is the start of a new wave of music that I'm sure will be ripped off plenty of times but sometimes it's always the originators that do it best.

They obviously have no drummer and everything is programmed but they take it to their full advantage. They go in and out of very groovy and chill dance beats to epic, sporadic insanity. The guitarist Hamilton has a very wide variety of influence. He plays beautifully melodic for the softer parts of the music but then goes into crazy tech finger tapping and really shows off his skills in such obscure background music. I have a sense they he has more of the metal influence but it works well.

Cloak of Love is really clean and tight. I don't know if it's the magic between Genghis Tron and Colin Marston but this is an EP of brilliance. The singing style is very dirty and raspy but he can hit an insanely high notes on songs like Ride the Steambolt.

There's just been so much said about Genghis Tron already. In a sense, it's too short but marketing wise it leaves you wanting more. If you are aware of a marketing scheme and STILL buy it/download it/listen to it, it's a pretty good record.

 Thursday, 29 November 2007 I'm glad that the Math and Tech community is finally growing. Considering Knifemill Disintegrator sent me their demo all the way from California and I am from Orlando FL. 2 complete opposite ends of the country. It shows how well communication and word of mouth is spreading and that forward thinking music has no boundaries or state borders HAHA. There is defiantly something brewing California besides the Orange County eye liner disease.

There are a few things that sour me about this demo. Their sound seems to be a little under developed. Perhaps it's because of the lack of bass or maybe the vocals. When I heard the first line of lyrics to the album something sounded too familiar. It took me a good amount of time to figure out whom. I knew the vocals sounded like someone not in Tech Metal. I am not that big of a Phil Anselmo anymore but the screaming vocals sound very close to Superjoint Ritual's "Use Once and Destroy" album. Not necessarily a bad thing but they sound a little forced. The Death Metal growling is VERY good though. Dave Buckner is highly talented and can go in and out of growls and screams on a dime. I loved the artwork's minimal and abstract intent but it needs a little something extra.

Don't get me wrong though, this Grindcore band has plenty of dissonance, chaos chords, bursts of noise, and off-timed start/stop pauses to please any Tech fan. The drums are very tight and popping. It almost reminds of Ed Gein but not so twangy. This was a to-be-polished diamond of a listen! It's too short and a few things need work. Maybe a little more dynamic production. I'm giving this recording a very honest score but the band's potential is beyond a rating. I support this band full heartedly and I highly look forward to a future release of Knifemill's with their new vocalist, drummer and bassist.

 Thursday, 29 November 2007 While searching for new Tech and Prog bands on Last.FM, I couldn't get away from this band. Surprisingly this band seems to be decently popular among the unspoken fans of their genre. In addition, with a band name like "Textures" I sure had high hopes for this album but plain and simple... this album is plain and simple.

The vocals sound a little like Soilwork. I laughed as waited to hear a chorus that goes something like "FOLLOW THE HOLLOW". There are some tastefully placed clean vocals but they fall sort. There doesn't seem to be any real power or enthusiasm behind them or naturally they are just plain mediocre. The song 'Illuminatio' is a good example. It is as though singer Eric Kalsbeek is struggling with his english.

There are a few good progressive moments on the album but nothing is that compelling to me. It seems they want to be more intricate then they can actually play. Most of the good, clean progressive moments on the album are quickly spoiled by repetitive 'nu metaled' Meshuggah attempts. This band is clearly the result of a bad Meshuggah influence. The Meshuggah influence they do play has been slowed down and cleaned up. I get a very neo-alternative metal/nu metal vibe from this band which is fine but I grew out of Sevendust a long fucking time ago...

The best track on the album is 'Touching the Absolute' because they lear away from their metal aspects and explore deeper into their ambient and progressive realm. Its actually a decent song if you can get past the cheesy, sometimes glitchy, clean vocals.

Just as their record label states, Drawing Circles is a very 'listenable' record but its nothing challenging. In my opinion, this band needs to throw in some kind of curve ball and run with it. For your 'prog lite' fans, it's pretty good.