Mercury Switch "Time to Shine" CD
[Indianola]
Whew, this band just doesn't know what the hell they're trying to do, in my opinion. I thought their last record was complete crap, so thankfully this one shows some improvement, but... it's still a completely disjointed record chock full of meandering riffs and songwriting that displays a distinct lack of focus or consideration for transitions and consistency. Whereas their last one had a lot of technical death meal riffing running the show, this one's definitely driven by metalcore that blends chunky rhythms and melodic Swedish death metal runs with caustic chord phrasings and lots of quick changes, but they still dive into some tremolo picking or growling on occasion. The vocals shift from speaking or shouting to screaming and growling and singing, and the singing even wanders around from a catchy form of melodic emo stuff with harmonies and all that to a forced rocked out style, which accompanies some of the way out of place sludgy rock riffs and stuff. What's more? They've gone so far as to add in full-time keyboards to back these songs, and I'm just not feeling that shit at all. Well, I'm not feeling any of this stuff, but... the keyboards just don't sound right to me, they feel pasted in like an afterthought and the tones chosen don't accent the songs. The biggest problem though is just that the songwriting is incoherent and lacks force or direction, so it's just a jumbled listen that's pretty derivative when all is said and done, even if you can tell that the band's trying to be innovative. "Struck by Lightnin'" almost starts out effectively with some moody midpaced chords, but then they dive into a lot of hammer-on/pull-off riffing and weird slow paced 80's metal solos that clash with one another, plus the rhythm tone on the metalcore playing in this track is all weird like they were going for some bluesy neck pickup sound or something, and before you know it they're onto some random sludge runs and burly growls. And "Altered Beast" is simply a terrible song, running all over the place from shitty rock riffs to some of the worst groovy death metal pinch harmonics I've heard all year, randomly throwing in samples and old school styled hardcore chords for some bizarre reason - all within a mere minute and 30 seconds. Despite its fair share of sloppy Maiden ripoffs and bland chugga chugga breaks, "Attached at the Wrist" actually has some pretty damn cool riffs that are also randomly inspired by melodic 80's virtuoso metal or some shit, but then they have to go and ruin it with some silly sounding high-pitched singing at the tail end of the riff that sounds like they're trying to be funny, and that pisses me off. And, of course, since these guys probably think they're a fucking progressive metal band in some form of completely backwards logic, the last track is a five-part epic that totals 17 minutes. The instrumental intro drops the strongest riff of the disc with some sweet dissonant chords and melodic basslines that are all shockingly awesome, but as a whole the set of five parts is just as all over the place as any other song herein, and the high-pitched wails in the rock infused "The Devil's a Woman Tonight" are inexcusable. Shit, the entire vocal performance as well as the lyrical content in this track are fucking atrocious and I refuse to take it seriously. Awful. And of course there's a five-and-a-half minute acoustic ballad after that, right? Whatever. The recording's better than last time but it still needs work. The drums are too clicky and flimsy, so they ought to be thicker and possess a little more of a warm density, the bass gets lost in the shuffle, and once more the guitars need more distortion to really pack a punch during the chugging rhythms and stuff like that. The mix is clear and the tones tend to sound pretty fluid and crisp, it just needs a little more meat to it, and maybe all of the vocal layering should be toned down so that it doesn't overpower the music here and there. The layout's a lot better than last time as well, with a consistent appearance and a generally effective presence, though again I'm not entirely sure what all of the Asian looking artwork and imagery has to do with the content of the record, if anything. The lyrics don't do squat for me either, wandering from strangely hopeful tomes of love to fits of betrayal, and I guess there's a chance that this is some sort of concept record, but I'm not interested enough to bother trying to figure that one out. I don't know, like I said, you can tell the band's trying to be creative, and a scarce handful of riffs on this disc actually hold a lot of potential, but I just don't understand why they feel the need to throw so many ingredients into the pot at all times. I simply can't get into this band. (4/10)
Running time - 38:25, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: no single song is without fault, there are just a few interesting riffs]
Indianola Records - http://www.indianolarecords.com

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