Yikes. Smells like someone might have assumed that since my site covers a lot of metal that I might for some odd reason like this groovy, misguided nu-metal nonsense. These guys don't seem clear on what they want to do. They're dropping groove laden, chunky, detuned chords all over the place, they've got some funky basslines and a few hip-hop styled vocal patterns happening, there's some thick discordance and a few really melodic passages, some Machine Head-esque harmonic riffs, screaming, yelling, singing, spoken passages... and most of the songs don't even top three-and-a-half minutes. Here's what I don't like: The aggressive vocals pretty much stink, especially when all the weird distortion filters are employed, the singing isn't that hot but it's competent (it just needs some spice, maybe some harmonies or a smoother delivery), the groovy stuff is really crappy, the funkiness and "jump around" rhythmic stuff is a huge "No thanks." for me, and the songs are too jumbled to flow at all. The only thing these cats are good at is writing catchy choruses that center around melody, and the only song in which they totally nail that is "Falling Into", the opener. If all of the songs were as good as that succinct chorus I'd be all over this shit no matter how cheesy it seems, because those few seconds of layered vocals and melodic guitars are fucking slick. The recording? Ehhh. It's not bad. They could use a thicker mix with more density to the vocals and guitars, the drums could be warmer... I think the bass sounds pretty good. It's alright, it's just missing something. The fact that I'm not into the songs doesn't help, of course. The two little experimentally instrumental breaks are a waste of time, too. I don't know. I think the layout looks pretty weak mainly due to a few poor choices as far as typeface and type color. Too many different fonts are used and the grungy font and red text really clash with everything else and look far more unprofessional as a whole. The typical photo of a crying girl wearing way too much eye makeup doesn't help, but whatever. The lyrics are pretty basic dealings with personal turmoil and stuff, nothing special. I can't listen to this. They can play their instruments, but they can't write a good song. The bassist is pretty damn good but his talents on the fretless would be far better suited for something more musically challenging and mature.
[Dayjob]
Running time - 21:16, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: the chorus of "Falling Into" and nothing else]
Stoic - http://www.stoicband.com
