Labels: Whorth
Review by: Alex Deller
I think this might be something like the third record I own by a band called Tetsuo. Like the Iron Man himself, this particular Tetsuo are very fucking metal. They have a surgical approach to their sound that means they probably listen to Meshuggah, the kind of metal where every riff is a scalpel stroke nicking away dead tissue, dodging dangerously between nerve endings or ventricles with studied precision. Palm-muted chugs march like clockwork soldiers to the triple-time blast of the double bass pedal as a hyena-headed thing with a death metal fetish belches up some of the strangest lyrics I’ve read in some time (“Falling into the toilet, more like an escalator. It must be fate. Flaming pumpkins marching along.” What in the name of Jebus is all that about?) Clinging to all of this like suckerfish on a shark’s belly are the jarring screeches of the modern noisecore sound, off-timed riffs and shrilling discordances paying clear homage to the likes of Converge or the Dillinger Escape Plan. If all this sounds like your cup of blood I’m sure you’ll be more than happy with Tetsuo’s brand of barking metal. It is heavy, precise and pretty listenable, but, just like the aforementioned Meshuggah, a little too cold and clinical for me. Because unlike their titanium-plated, nickel-dicked namesake, it just doesn’t seem like there’s a human anywhere inside this band”¦