Project: Failing Flesh "A Beautiful Sickness" CD
[self-released]
Well, this isn't so much my thing. It's better than I had anticipated from the presentation of the CD, but it's still not doing much for me. It's pretty straightforward groovy modern metal with some experimental sort of electronic/industrial elements and a really clinical sound that brings to mind Fear Factory meets Meshuggah to some degree. Some of the songs are a bit thrashier and have that overproduced sort of Machine Head type of thing going on, and I can actually get into some of those songs since they speed up the tempos a bit, and I do like the yelling vocals a lot, but... I think the recording is harming them. The guitar tone is pretty good but it has this unnatural sort of bite to it that sort of takes away from its warmth, the bass gets lost behind everything else, and the drums are way too machinated in tone and performance. Hell, they're probably programmed, I can't tell. They need to get rid of the keyboards though, because they're just goofy and they don't fit the music at all. Here and there they work out as background texture, but... I'm not digging that aspect. The layout could be worse, but I still think it looks too bland. Some of the imagery isn't bad, but it can be pixilated, and the small images on the cover are crisp only because they're computer generated, and I'm just not into that style. The text is nice and clean, I don't have any gripes there, I just think they could put some more thought into organization and visual appearance. The center spread of the booklet has a ton of text crammed into it that has to do with organ donation and such, which is actually pretty interesting the way everything is pieced together. I don't know. I think the band has an interesting sort of concept going on, but they need a visual aesthetic that properly represents that, and the songwriting needs to be slightly more refined and focused, with a recording that adds the proper amount of density and attack to their plodding rhythms and thrashy speeds. Actually, they should probably up the tempos more often because the songs that are faster really stand out, but... this isn't a total waste. There's a glimmer of hope in there. (5/10)
Running time - 40:31, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Planet Dead, Long Silent Voices]
Project: Failing Flesh - http://www.projectfailingflesh.com

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