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Hardcore/alternative rock metalists A Static Lullaby have
returned with their self-titled album in the wake of last year's Faso
Latido and their debut disc of 2003 entitled And Don't Forget
To Breathe. The insurgence of screamo verses along heavy punk
rock movements on their latest release affects tempo grips to have
a ferocious bite while sequentially stewing an inferno of fluxing
tones in a cyclone of turbulence. The screamo aspects also limit the
album by centering everything around the layers of screaming vocals.
They missed out on exploring their potential to integrate more melodic
propulsions while keeping a hard rock edge which they begin to touch
upon on their final track "Mechanical Heart."
Produced by Steve Evetts (The Cure, Senses Fail,
Dillinger Escape Plan), the album has a punk rock vibe reminiscent
of Finch and The Used flanked by hardcore elements steep
with severe registers. The guitar chops on "Hang Em High"
and "Contagious" pierce the rhythmic swells and bow the
chord progressions. The growls in the vocals are abrasive and choking
but are even keel with the series of singing which toggles between
the two intonations like Linkin Pink. The sections of soaring
vocals and chord successions on "The Collision" are equalized
by the rhythmic stomps and vocal kicks. The racing movements are a
staple in these songs infiltrating tracks like "Art Of Sharing"
and "Life Is a Museum."
New to A Static Lullaby are the funk-punk rhythms in "Annexation
Of Puerto Rico" orchestrated by bassist Dane Poppin and
drummer Jarrod Alexander. The double guitar tension of Dan
Arnold and John Death are straddled by lead singer Joe
Brown, whose severe vocal strings switch between loose and taut
creating a squeezing motion through the songs. The guitar rips in
"Art Of Sharing Lovers" and "Stare At The Air"
are dynamic and generate rapidly grinding motions along rumbling drum
grooves. A Static Lullaby keep many of the mainstay components from
their previous albums while probing frenzied textures.
A Static Lullaby put out an energetic album that stays in their
safe zone, but makes breaks for something more expansive and
melodic natured in songs like "Mechanical Heart."
Toughness isn't always about charring screamo vocals, and that's
something A Static Lullaby still isn't safe to trek into, but
they can.
-Susan Frances
Tracklisting:
1. Hang Em High
2. Contagious
3. Annexation Of Puerto Rico
4. Art Of Sharing Lovers
5. The Collision
6. Trigger Happy Tarantula
7. Eager Cannibals
8. Life In A Museum
9. Stare At The Air
10. Static Slumber Party
11. Mechanical Heart
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