The current wave of the future in metal are what I will call ratatouille bands. They are the ones who don't adhere to genres, and throw everything under the sun into one pot, trying to see if the result can please everyone. Much like how every color put together makes a weird shade of brown, I'm not convinced all forms of music can sound good when combined. Jinjer is the band everyone knows about doing this, but Infected Rain was actually the first of them I encountered.
The good thing about Infected Rain is that no matter what kind of metal you like, there will be moments on this record you will love. The bad thing about Infected Rain is that unless you love every kind of metal, there will be moments on this record you will hate. Since I don't know anyone with standards who loves everything metal entails, that means this record is akin to the ol' claw machine; plenty of hope interspersed with disappointment.
Just look at the opening track, "Earth Mantra". It opens with blast-beats and screamed vocals, then segues into a clean guitar figure and whispered vocals, then adds electronic bits, then explodes into a metallic fury again. I ask the question genuinely; are there a lot of people who love blast beats and ambient dream-gaze, and who want them combined in the same song? When I'm listening to something like that, all I can think is that it can't possibly appeal to a large number of people. For instance, I love the melodic part over the heavy guitars that ends the track, but Lena's barking in the first half doesn't hold much appeal to me.
I find "Black Gold" to be far more successful, because it has a better focus on what it's trying to be. The song is aggressive throughout (maybe a bit more than I'd like), but everything is built around that energy level, and it fits together well. It lacks melody, but that makes sense for a track of that style. They makes up for that on "Symphony Of Trust", where Lena uses her clean voice to great effect. In fact, that leads me to the biggest disappointment on the album. Screaming/growling vocalists seldom write melodic vocal lines for their harsh voices, but I was hoping that Lena' background with clean singing would lead her to write the same kinds of vocal lines for both sides of her voice. She doesn't.
So throughout the album we ping-pong from moments of aggressive metal to (attempted) beautiful melody. There isn't a formula for how these transitions are handled, which I think is a drawback. As a listener who prefers one side of this equation, I prefer knowing there is going to be a pay-off for me in most or all of the songs. I don't get that impression when listening to this record. They are there, but they can't be counted on, if that makes sense.
Comparing Infected Rain to Jinjer might be a cheap ploy, but let me indulge myself anyway. I have given both bands a try, and while they take similar approaches, only one of them has shown me the kind of songwriting that could eventually win me over. Jinjer is the bigger name, but Infected Rain has a better sense of melody, and uses enough of it to make me think there's something here worth keeping an eye on. I've never gotten that impression from Jinjer.
So what do I think of "Endorphin"? Well, that's a bit harder to pin down. There is a lot to like, but also enough I'm not so fond of, to make it a split decision. I get why they don't, but if they could hone and focus their sound just a bit, I could find myself getting into it. As it stands, "Endorphin" is an album that I hear quite a bit of potential in, and like for what it is, but what it is will hold it back. Hopefully, you'll get even more out of it than I did. They're well worth giving a shot.
No comments:
Post a Comment