Winston-Salem’s
pride and joy, Codeseven has been an innovator in the North Carolina
scene for years. On their first underground release, “Paper
or Plastic,” the band brought rap-metal into the spotlight
before anyone knew what to make of it.
By the time bands like Limp Bizkit had the opportunity
to make a mockery of the genre, Codeseven had moved forward to redefine
hardcore with their seminal albums “A Sense of Coalition”
and “Division of Labor.”
These albums would provide the inspiration for
almost every North Carolina hardcore band in the coming years, as
well as Codeseven’s springboard to mounting national attention.
Once again, Codeseven has moved on to uncharted
territory.
Their latest effort, “The Rescue,” is
not a hardcore album. To dub it an emo album does the music a disservice.
Frankly, it’s not an album that can be easily filed away into
a genre.
Like most things Codeseven does, it is done well
before its time and is generally not understood until much later.
This time around, the group has opted for an album
that focuses on depth, creating well-written, incredibly textured
songs. “The Rescue” falls somewhere between Sigur Rios
and Pink Floyd, as it goes on a sonic roller coaster through the
range of human emotions and musical experimentation.
Although many will be quick to criticize this
album for its lack of screaming and E-chord breakdowns, listeners
will come back to “The Rescue” down the road and rediscover
what the members of Codeseven knew all along.After the release of
their watermark album “Calculating Infinity,” The Dillinger
Escape Plan had people in the underground community listening with
rapt attention. Dillinger came forth with a style that has been
described as “math-core” or “smart metal”: a
full-on audio assault of the senses.
Although it may seem like pure white noise on
the first listen, after further listening one can find a combination
that approaches musical genius.
Now forced to follow up “Calculating Infinity,”
Dillinger has enrolled the vocal talents of the man of a thousand
bands, Mike Patton. Patton’s background includes singing for
groups such as Tomahawk, Fantomas, Loveage, Mr. Bungle, and most
notably, Faith No More.
From the first note of the album, it’s plain
to see this is Patton’s show, and Dillinger is simply providing
the background music.
Teamed with Patton, Dillinger’s heavier parts
get pushed into new realms of complexity, only to take a hairpin
turn into soft melodic crooning that is purely Patton.
This album succeeds where other Dillinger albums
have fallen short: On “Irony is a Dead Scene,” you can
actually nod your head and sing along, at least for a little while.
In the end though, Dillinger leaves listeners’ heads spinning.
Not too bad for only being a four-song EP. |
