Collapsar "s/t" CD
[Escape Artist]
Here's the official debut from this Louisiana outfit that features ex-members of Icepick Revival, so this is definitely one for those into stuttered rhythms, mangled time signatures, winding math rock riffs, and then some.  They definitely throw their own spice into the mix with strange dual guitar harmonies and dissonant chord phrasings, not to mention some spacey synth undercurrents from time to time, oh... and there's no bass!  Just two guitars, drums, and some synth work on occasion.  While not as long as the songs on their demo, these compositions do tend be substantial in length, averaging around six minutes each with a few longer/shorter journeys, but they keep things honed to make sure that the longer pieces don't lose steam or meander around too much.  That's not to say there's a lack of variety, however.  "Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla" has a few slightly more straightforward chord progressions tweaked with light melody, but what about those ripping solos!?  Talk about a surprise!  I'm loving that element and would quite like to hear the band head down that path more often!  Elsewhere the noisier lead textures employed are a bit more common throughout the disc.  Meanwhile, "King Kong Died for Your Sins" jumps from staccato rhythms and curiously sustained lead notes to quick clean breaks or strange electronic effects.  Late in the piece there's a longer clean break where some weird notes are manipulated to almost create a similar effect to a vocal line, which is pretty damn cool.  The 9+ minute "Opus 1" opens with an extremely succinct indie rock progression before quickly shuffling into a really slick chord progression that fucks with the time signatures a little more, and before you know it they're onto some spacey clean passages and more twisted stuttering contrasted by some of the more throbbing melodic undercurrents herein - making for one of my favorites overall.  Hell, the brief "Sleep Robot" even breaks out the programmed percussion and makes for a far more, well... robotic sounding affair, with closer "Robot Wins" coming off more like an experimental noise track!  The entire affair was recorded in one day and mixed the day after, so there are some rough spots, but all things considered it sounds pretty damn good under the circumstances.  The percussion is nice and crisp with a completely natural tone that I absolutely enjoy, and the guitars are generally warm and efficient.  The distortion employed isn't too full or what have you, but it works for the most part.  The dryness of the clean passages is fairly nice against the percussion's resonance, and really the distortion could only use minimal tweaking.  The absence of bass doesn't really impact them either.  Given the recording situation there's of course a little bit of a live tinge to the sound and performances, so they do feel like a trio, but that's not a bad thing.  Sure, I think basslines would definitely add color to the tracks, but the airy spaciousness they've got going on fits, it doesn't sound plain at all, so they're definitely working to fill the space well.  The disc comes in a sleek digipack with black and metallic silver printing.  The band logo is then emblazoned across the front cover with a metallic silver foil inlay, and the disc is housed inside a small color sleeve within one of the digipack panels.  Not bad at all.  Really the only minor faults that I would cite with this disc are that the guitarists should probably tighten up their performances as much as possible (but they're not that far off), and since the band really has a knack for writing moving material that explores admirable diversity I'd like to hear them focus slightly less on the start/stop rhythms and work a little more of the emotional edge into it ("Opus 1" is a great example of a song that achieves this).  They're certainly improving, and this is something that fans of the style should absolutely look out for, but I bet it's going to be their future efforts that really see the band coming into their own and blowing some minds. (7/10)
Running time - 43:19, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, King Kong Died for Your Sins, Opus 1]
Escape Artist Records - http://www.escapeartistrecords.com

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