There are certain bands that you keep hearing about from various places such as online magazines, etc. Then there are bands that you hear about through word-of-mouth and then there are bands that people in your inner circle just will not stop talking about. The band that is on the chopping block is one of those bands and the band in question is a band called Botch. Now I literally have not heard any of their songs so this is a completely brand new review and with that let’s take a look……
American Nervoso- OK so this is an album that someone would say is just noise. I would personally put this up there with metalcore or even mathcore mostly because of the odd time signatures and time changes. What I do like about this album are the riffs and just the overall chaos. It’s very much in your face kind of album and it’s one of those where a casual listener might not enjoy it. I’ll go ahead and give this one 8/10.
Standouts: John Woo, Thank God For Worker Bees, Stupid Me
We Are The Romans- for some reason this album does remind me of a band like The Dillinger Escape Plan. It might have something to do with the vocals and again the off time signatures but it just reminds me of that band. Now I feel like this one maybe is a bit more cohesive but it does seem to pick up where the last album left off, which is great because I feel like you can listen to both these albums back to back and it would be an amazing experience. I would also like to add that the vocalist does tend to annunciate a little bit better so you can’t understand the words just slightly more on this album. I’m gonna go ahead and give this one 8.5/10.
Standouts: To Our Friends In The Great White North, Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb, Transitions From Persona To Object
Unifying Themes Redux- there’s a certain kind of rawness to this album. Like I’m not sure what was going on with the recording here, but it almost feels like you should listen to this one first before any of the other albums just simply because of the way it sounds. I mean sound wise there isn’t really anything that different here and this one has got some weird songs and there’s even a cover of that song Rock Lobster so if you ever wanted to hear how that sounds as a metalcore song then here you go. Aside from that, though I didn’t particularly care for this one as much as the other two albums so I’m gonna go ahead and give this one 7/10.
Standouts: God Vs. Science, Contraction, Sudam
061524- so this album is actually not a studio album but a live album and I must say it’s a very good live album. Like it captures that energy that this band has really really well and that’s how you know if it’s a good live album or not. Now I know that these guys broke up and like 2006 or something, but this album holds up quite well. What I like about this is that not only does it capture the intensity, but the songs actually sound better here than on the albums. Definitely check this one out. I actually really enjoyed it and if I were to ever redo these albums again that are probably the one that I would start with so I’m gonna go ahead and give it 9/10.
Standouts: Spaim, John Woo, Vietmam
If you’re looking for a band, that is Converge or Dillinger Escape Plan adjacent then check these guys out. What I really like about a band like this is all of the chaos and aggression. They did seem like they would be a fun band to see live and it is kind of too bad that they won’t be reuniting or playing any more shows because I’m willing to bet going to see them, especially in smaller venues would’ve been an absolute blast. Either way don’t sleep on these albums because they really are good albums.
Final Grade: B+/A-
Album Rankings:
- 061524
- We Are The Romans
- American Nervoso
- Unifying Themes Redux
Sinister Reviews 