The Brothers Highhorse - Invasion
A rather peculiar name, The Brothers Highhorse is for a band I have to say. This EP artwork reminds me of that dreadful Hypocrisy album that was about alien abduction, eurgghhhh. But. Never judge a book by it's cover don't they say?! Opening intro, 'Warnings' is, yep, as I suspected, a warning of UFOs with abit of mediocre riffage stuck onto the end. To be fair at this point as was ready to turn this off and I would say for some folk may find this as an off put. I hadn't high hopes at this point but by the time the real music kicked in with 'The Conquering Swarm' my mind was undecided. It opened with some blackened death vocals and galloping riffage. Maybe I was wrong?! The song progressed and I found myself interested. The keyboards I wasn't so sure about. I felt it took from the song. The track takes some seriously weird twists and turns in styles from black to abit of death metal and I suppose abit symphonic-ish with keyboards and what not. 'Abduction And Defilement' (see what I mean?) starts off great with a cool polyrythmic drum pattern then the keyboards come in and the track seems to shift into a black metal track. Strange. If you think that's strange maybe the fact that the track goes from black metal into some metalcore esque riffage with keyboards, which just isn't a good blend.
Whilst I can see these guys are trying to harness, I think, everyone in the bands influences at the same time, I don't think these guys know what they are. There's just such a huge array of influences it's hard to know what to make of it all. The production is worth mentioning in the fact it's cracking and all instrumentation can be heard with phenominal clarity. The playing on offer here in the instruments is worth mentioning too that all is executed with abit of finesse. If anything I would say the kick drums are a little high in the mix but hey, that's not the issue on hand here. By the time I got to 'Biomechanical Emancipation', there it was, gang vocals, breakdowns/slams, deep and high vocals........... these guys are a metalcore band with a few different influences than the norm.
Don't get me wrong, this CD has it's moments where my ears perked up by then completely tainted with bizarre riffs or keyboard patterns. Bloody strange indeed. Closing track, 'The Light Of Annihilation' is no different. Whilst being abit more riffier and albeit abit more melodious than most of the other tracks (core?) I can't help but think " What the fuck is this!?" I just can't get into it. It's not the playing as they all seem technically profiencent on their instruments I think it's more the case that these guys just don't know what they are yet and have to find out what it is exactly they want to play. And when they know that, I think a name change is definitely required. Horses? Aliens? What the fuck!?
Whilst I can see these guys are trying to harness, I think, everyone in the bands influences at the same time, I don't think these guys know what they are. There's just such a huge array of influences it's hard to know what to make of it all. The production is worth mentioning in the fact it's cracking and all instrumentation can be heard with phenominal clarity. The playing on offer here in the instruments is worth mentioning too that all is executed with abit of finesse. If anything I would say the kick drums are a little high in the mix but hey, that's not the issue on hand here. By the time I got to 'Biomechanical Emancipation', there it was, gang vocals, breakdowns/slams, deep and high vocals........... these guys are a metalcore band with a few different influences than the norm.
Don't get me wrong, this CD has it's moments where my ears perked up by then completely tainted with bizarre riffs or keyboard patterns. Bloody strange indeed. Closing track, 'The Light Of Annihilation' is no different. Whilst being abit more riffier and albeit abit more melodious than most of the other tracks (core?) I can't help but think " What the fuck is this!?" I just can't get into it. It's not the playing as they all seem technically profiencent on their instruments I think it's more the case that these guys just don't know what they are yet and have to find out what it is exactly they want to play. And when they know that, I think a name change is definitely required. Horses? Aliens? What the fuck!?
- Warnings
- The Conquering Swarm
- Abduction And Defilement
- Xenomorphic Resurection
- Biomechanical Emancipation
- The Light Of Annihilation
