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fear before the march of flames - art damage these guys have got a lot better. they've also gone considerably further up the spazzy-tech-hardcore tree - the two facts probably not being totally unrelated. the branches are made up of a brutal, awkward concuction of constantly shifting tempos, erratic angular guitars, and an unbending, all-screaming aggression; the seed of inspiration seems to come pretty obviously from the mathy destructive genius of botch, with bits of blood brothers quirk thrown in for good measure. and whereas these influences may be a little too strong at times, i still stick by my original statement - this album sees a marked improvement over fear before's decent debut "odd how people shake," moving to a much more condensed heavyness. the band have cut down significantly on any sung vocals, the vicious screaming and fervent shouts a fairly disturbing constant, with anything melodic reserved for muted, eerie passages and hinted background murmurs. this album is more polished perhaps, but is easily as unstable sounding as its predecessor; whereas the first record had sporadic moments of demented inspiration, this album is a lot more consistent - they've cut away the indecisive edges to leave more of a refined and determined chaos. in that way this is a more straightforward record; they've picked their ultra-intense botch-like directions and stuck uncompromisingly to them, not going far beyond that - and they're a better band for it. named after the bushfires that plagued their home state of colorado, this is as fitting a name for the young band - still in their late teens and early twenties - as the album title is. in just under 30 minutes "art damage" has blasted right through your head, randomly and irresponsibly rearranging synapses before you can even register the fact. growth like this speaks of a mightily bright, and morosely fascinating future for the quartet. matt |
