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| Reproduction |
Before we get to the music and the normal vinyl trappings, let's talk about this band. They're completely new to me, and what's there to expect rather than some very serious metal?
Let's talk context clues:
1) Knife? I mean hello! We all remember that Cannibal Corpse song don't we?
2) Knives are made of _____? METAL!
3) Aside from dropping your sweet camping knife off the fishing dock into the lake and scaring off the crappie you were trying to ensnare with your glittery jig, there's only one good reason for a knife to be in the water: an act of violence has been committed, nay ULTRA Violence has been committed with this particular stabbing instrument.
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| Knife In The Water |
Wait a minute.
Hold up. These vocals are, dare I say beautiful?
The guitars are...sparse...certainly they're just warming up for the big reveal right? Most death metal records start off with this delightfully melodious opening....and that's before the blast beats start pounding in your face. It's going to happen....just wait...wait for it...any minute now....
Right....?
Well, as it turns out, there's no death metal this morning, at least not until I put on another record. What we do have is a, well, I don't precisely know where to put it in terms of genre. The best, and most personally soothing, would be psych pop.
The vocals have taken center stage and are wholly buttressed by the instrumentation. There are some tasty melody lines, including a pedal steel guitar passage, but other than that, all the primary melodies are via the vocals and one Vince Delgado, primarily speaking.
It should be mentioned that Reproduction is Knife In The Water's comeback album, but as this is the first time I've spent with them, it hardly seems necessary, but still, I outsmarted myself and mentioned it.
Drummer, Matt Strmiska, has a style all his own. He sometimes takes a beat off in the phrases which gives the other players stronger impact.
Aaron Blount's guitar work couples lovely with the rest of the, primary, band along with sometime player, Bill McCullough on pedal steel guitar, and sometimes vocalist, Shelley Maureen McKann. Basically, this band is a lot like Kiss, in terms of personnel, because it's a somewhat different lineup on each track.
The most significant departure from Kiss though is there ability to have layers in the music. Nothing is ever the true focal point, but a star in the sky, a road leading to the horizon, or simply a piece of cookie dough in the ice cream.
It's a truly beautiful record from top to bottom.
Keeled Scales has given us a no frills package that sounds amazing. The heavyweight LP is flat, sturdy, and warm.
This one is going to hold up and sound amazing from the beginning.
Release: Out Now
Genre: Pysch Pop
Label: Keeled Scales
Formats: LP/CD/Digital
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