Rats Into Robots "A Column of Smoke by Day, a Pillar of Fire by Night" CD
[Slave Union]
Don't be misled by the calm yet eerily ominous intro track of droning clean guitars this trio starts off with here, as the core of the disc is chock full of abrasive and intense hardcore/punk/metalcore with lots of pounding rhythms, frantic changeups, caustic note combinations and chord progressions, and gruff shouting/screaming vocal tradeoffs. The recording is a little on the raw side in certain regards, which does fit in a way, but the absolutely massive bass tone is fucking awesome, I must say. I wish there was a way for that density to spread out across the entire mix rather than leaving some gaps off to the sides, but for the most part this sounds pretty good. The guitars have a really interesting texture that lets a ton of bright dissonance ring through while still remaining gritty and hard hitting, the bass tone is immense, the percussion sounds fine, and the vocals are all out screams with just a hint of faint distortion at times. The songwriting is definitely a little more chaotic and noisy than I anticipated, but they pull it off pretty well by keeping things focused and switching up the dynamics with some great slower/calmer breaks or clean passages. "The Thickness of the Ice" and "And So On" are experimental noise remixes by Adam Heathcott (Hometapes Records) that also add variety, though while quite good for what they are, I have to confess finding them to be a little disruptive to the flow of the disc - in part because they're significantly longer than most of the songs themselves, and also because they're spread out in a way that kind of breaks up the explosive feel of the actual songs. As intro/outro pieces they might have been more effective, but falling right smack in the midst of the tracks can be a hindrance. "The Fuse" is a little slower and takes longer to build up, making for a standout track that keeps most of its discordance in check, though the following "The Strength of the Base of the Pillar" blows through lots of fairly typical pull-off styled metalcore riffs that don't do justice to its plodding basslines or darker riffs (which are far superior) - the two tracks representing a pretty good cross-section of the disc's highs and lows. Visually this looks very nice, with subtle metallic gold lettering over sinister abstract images in dark blue and black with a few tiny black and white band photos. The songs are lyrically concise and leave things fairly open, but are quite suggestive and intriguing in my opinion (some hitting overtly socio-political issues, others remaining far more cryptic). "Behind the burning stars inertia leads us all to a great ending. Drifting in currents towards the outer wall. The rivers of mass flow towards an endless but ending field of nothing. Winds of inertia bring hell. The shapes will collide. From the hills I have watched the skies. The horizon will burn while we are alive." Promising. Not quite there, but there's a lot of intrigue here. I wish the 10 minutes of noisescapes were removed for a more concise and pointed experience, but aside from that I'd prefer to hear them delve deeper into their darker and more sinister side rather than focusing on too much of the chaotic metalcore stuff - as tasteful as it may be. This is good, and aesthetically there's a lot that I appreciate, but the songwriting needs a little more. Some of the more melodic and obscure portions of "The Finite Universe " and closer "The Full and the Sparse" are fucking awesome... so I'd love to hear more of that angle explored. (6/10)
Running time - 32:54, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: The Finite Universe, The Fuse, The Full and the Sparse]
Slave Union - http://www.slaveunion.com

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