Losa "The Perfect Moment" CD
[Metal Blade]
You know, I heard a song from this record on a sampler a few months back and I thought it was terrible and had a crappy recording.  Well, whoever had mastered that sampler must be completely incompetent, because the production on this thing ain't that bad, and the songwriting's not at all terrible either.  I'm not blown out of the water by any means, but this is definitely something different than what I was expecting based on the latest Metal Blade output.  After a brief noise intro the band plows into some midpaced and rhythmic metalcore that's got minor elements of today's "popular metal" going on.  But that doesn't mean polished vocal harmonies and super melodic choruses or anything, it's not nu-metal, instead it's really just a sort of monotone singing or speaking delivery that has a little bit of a Tool thing happening, while the music can at times shift towards softer clean breaks.  The focus is definitely on thick rhythms and slightly off kilter time signatures though, and the bulk of the vocals are harsh screams that definitely sound pretty acerbic (but not in an annoying way).  Some songs, such as "Unsuspecting Mind", even flirt with a Norwegian post-black metal sense of winding dissonance as well, which is really cool, not to mention a bit more effective than the chunky stuff.  Probably my favorite element of the disc is the rhythm section, though.  The bassist seems pretty solid and his tone is ultra thick to the point where it becomes interestingly suffocating (though it might be cooler were he using a more defined tone to let his playing really shine), but I'm really digging the drum work.  Sometimes it's rather simple, but the fills have a nice feel to ‘em, and the drummer adds flare when necessary.  There's definitely something that stands out about his playing, and I think it's that he really seems to play based on feeling rather than trying to be clinical or overly concerned with rigid patterns.  "The Witness' Account" uses some interesting clean runs and lots of staccato chords that definitely hammer the point home that there's a healthy dose of math metal involved here as well, which isn't a problem for me in the least.  Elsewhere, "From the Ashes of Infancy" gets much thrashier and has a little bit of a technical flavor going on, while "Church of Pitted Vipers" is among the few tracks that lets some open melody come into play.  Not without an air of discordance, mind you, but it's a little more melodic nonetheless, and effectively so - making the harder hitting heaviness all the more powerful when it finally lands.  Even the singing sounds more comfortable in this piece, and I think the band would serve themselves well to delve deeper into some of these influences.  The melody that plays a role in closer "...Madness (Sentiment of a Dying Man)" is much more typical and has a Swedish vibe happening, so I kind of have to discount that since it's simply not in tune with the rest of the disc for the most part.  Also worth noting is that all of the songs flow into one another, which sort of creates the illusion that things work as one complete whole, though really that's not entirely true.  The songs do transition seamlessly and effectively from one to the other, but beyond that they do feel like individual pieces (that are of course similar in the grand scheme of things).  As mentioned the sound is pretty damn nice.  The mix is well balanced and the tones sound solid for the most part.  The drums are pretty natural and I really like how crisp the cymbals sound, the bass adds an insane amount of low-end pulse, the guitars are just raw enough to have an edge but don't sound dirty or ineffective, etc.  Sometimes when the vocals let loose and start yelping or shrieking they can feel a little overpowering, but even that tends to be alright, it's not something that bothers me a great deal.  Visually it's not doing much for me, but at least it's consistent.  I'm not into the fonts but I guess the paintings are alright, it's just not really catching my eye.  The lyrics are suggestive but tend to be abstract enough to allow room for interpretation, and while not entirely intriguing there are some nice lines.  "Harvest is sown reap what you grow kill what we own, Beautiful burning silhouette scorching acumen, Changing the path worn by the uninformed."  Not bad.  Like I said, it's not blowing me out of the water or anything, but there's some substance here that I can appreciate.  I definitely think this is a band that's going to grow nicely into something a bit more interesting. (6/10)
Running time - 40:35, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Unsuspecting Mind, The Witness' Account, Church of Pitted Vipers]
Metal Blade Records - http://www.metalblade.com

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