Couldron "s/t" CD
[Roacho]
These guys list their chief influences as Neurosis, Isis, Godflesh, and the Swans, but ironically the end result sounds nothing at all like any of those bands to me. It's heavy, and it can get a little sludgy here and there, and some of the softer hints at atmospheric passages could be referenced to Neurosis or Isis at a hell of a stretch, but for the most part it's rhythmic math metal sounding material with a little gritty rock thrown in for good measure. I'm not blown away by it, it needs cleaning up, but it's not bad. I'm definitely digging the vocals, which are intense yells with a very subtle edge of singing in there, and the music's good too. I think if I had to nail down a few problem areas they'd be the recording and the presentation on this one. The sound is on the right track, the mix is cohesive and you can definitely get where they're heading. It needs more warmth and low-end, though. It's a little dry and raw in areas, and the guitar tone definitely needs more oomph, either from a crunchier distortion, or from a more supportive bass presence backing it up. I'd smooth out the drums and vocals a little as well, though the vocals are damn close to being on the money, so don't fiddle with too much there. I like the songwriting in most cases, though. "Before the Gods" is a little more streamlined in its rhythm patterns and lets the "singing" side of the vocals have a little more breathing room (also a damn strong delivery), while "The Well" uses some interesting winding riffs that flirt with more unusual time signatures and patterns (the clean guitars sound iffy though, I'm not too into those tones as the guitars lose too much character during those portions as a result). The unfortunately titled "Stoner" (an instrumental) closes the disc with another slower and slightly darker piece, most effectively utilizing the dynamics between heavy rhythms and clean passages, with lots of strong melodic runs and a persistent pulsing tempo. All of the songs tend to rely on a decent amount of repetition, with few getting a little stagnant as a result, so the four- to six-minute running times work out pretty well in the end. The layout's got nothing but some strangely colored semi psychedelic images that are sort of a weird mix of painterly computer-generated patterns and shapes and photographs or something. No lyrics or that kind of thing. Who knows? It looks tolerable but the typefaces suck and overall it's lacking... this music needs something with a little more substance to represent it, you know? That's a secondary concern here, but still something to think about. Not bad when all is said and done. Like I said, it needs cleaning up, but they've got a good foundation to work with here. I'm really into the vocals and the songwriting is solid, so with a little more tweaking I think these cats will win me over. I'll be interested to hear their next release. (6/10)
Running time - 33:16, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Dune, Before the Gods, Stoner]
Couldron - http://www.couldron.com

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