The Apparatus

 Saturday, 24 May 2008 Granted, Dr. Acula is different and seem to mock the idea of serious "The apocalypse is here and it's all our faults" Death Metal and Grindcore music but the constant feeling of an impending doom gets a little monotonous after a while.

Dr. Acula creates relatively hardcore music while lightening the mood with interjections from assorted places such as the Terminator quote, "You can't just go around killing people!" followed by the Terminator's, "Why?" in the song Piano Lessons can be Murder. Although the repetitive use of Goosebumps titles being used for song titles shows a little writer's block, they pull together a very creative sound (at least from what I can tell) and the ridiculously high-pitched and overstressed vocals in addition to the loud and profuse inhalations of the vocalist just add to the band's joking demeanor. They definitely aren't bringing a heaping plate of the Grindcore that we expect from a band but they're a welcome break from the material we're used to.

On the other hand, the songs get repetitive faster than most other Grindcore songs and so it's harder to play Dr. Acula over and over again. They parody the same Metal we hear everyday but they seem to rely more on comedy than on great music to do this (like a good parody should.) The only problem with this, is that the same joke gets old after the third time and I just can't seem to laugh at their songs as much anymore.

If I just found Dr. Acula, I'd definitely give them a 10/10 but a month or so later... they've dropped down to a 7/10 or so. Great album but don't put forth the money if you're looking for the epitome of Metalcore. Regardless of all the negatives I still say they deserve two thumbs up.