math / progressive metal
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Ok, one more dash of musical extremism before I start playing something nice and relaxed. And judging from that first track 'Acaba Amb Mi' I'm going to need that little rest or else I'd got mad. There was a time when I could listen to all things extreme for days on end, but those days have passed. Now, after listening to a few of these in-your-face, obtrusive modern metal bands, I feel tired. Guess I'm just getting old.
Anyway, on with the review.
Rather Be Alive is a metal band from Barcelona, Spain. Their music was presented to me as "math metal", and in a way that term completely justified. On this album, Rather Be Alive treats their listeners to the algebra of metal, throwing punk rock, noise rock, hardcore, metalcore, death metal and black metal into one massive blender and coming out with something that sounds like the lovechild of Gojira and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
That must be one ugly, deformed kid, but this aside.
So yes, this is a bloody extreme piece of work but to be honest, I like it a lot more than I expected at first. Some parts remind me of those ancient black metal basement recordings, being gritty and raunchy. On other occasions I find myself dreaming away with beautiful post-whatever passages, only to be smashed in the head by ferocious guitars and throat snapping screams shortly after.
I guess live performances by this band are rather intense, certainly with blasting tunes like 'No Es Seu' and 'Passat/Futur'. I think the latter is my favorite track on this album, but that's very hard to decide since all of them are harsh, immersive pieces of extreme metal. I don't expect this one to end up in my end-year list but I'm quite sure it will end up in that of fans of all things math, core and extreme. So yes, I absolutely recommend this one to those extremists.
Serge
Anyway, on with the review.
Rather Be Alive is a metal band from Barcelona, Spain. Their music was presented to me as "math metal", and in a way that term completely justified. On this album, Rather Be Alive treats their listeners to the algebra of metal, throwing punk rock, noise rock, hardcore, metalcore, death metal and black metal into one massive blender and coming out with something that sounds like the lovechild of Gojira and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
That must be one ugly, deformed kid, but this aside.
So yes, this is a bloody extreme piece of work but to be honest, I like it a lot more than I expected at first. Some parts remind me of those ancient black metal basement recordings, being gritty and raunchy. On other occasions I find myself dreaming away with beautiful post-whatever passages, only to be smashed in the head by ferocious guitars and throat snapping screams shortly after.
I guess live performances by this band are rather intense, certainly with blasting tunes like 'No Es Seu' and 'Passat/Futur'. I think the latter is my favorite track on this album, but that's very hard to decide since all of them are harsh, immersive pieces of extreme metal. I don't expect this one to end up in my end-year list but I'm quite sure it will end up in that of fans of all things math, core and extreme. So yes, I absolutely recommend this one to those extremists.
Serge
