Labels: Relapse
Review by: Kunal Nandi
Fucking hell!
I could have just left it at that, and stuck a really high mark at the end, but this – BBTS’s first full-length after their self-titled EP and the split with Luddite Clone – warrants a hell of a lot more. Those showed immense promise, and this delivers.
In the rush of people falling over themselves (literally) in order to sound like the next Coalesce or Converge (without realising that Coalesce and Converge are already doing a fantastic job of doing that already), BBTS are one of the few bands to really carve their own niche. They still do the crazy time-signature pirouettes and widdly guitar bits to a tee; look at “Soundtrack to the Worst Movie Ever” – it begins with a playful waltz-time riff that scutters along, shortly before transmogrifying into a totally vicious pounding section. The vocalist has a particularly pained style, spouting some very pissed off, and very well-written, political and personal rhetoric, and the presence of superhuman drummer Dave Witte (of Discordance Axis, Melt Banana, Human Remains fame) in the ranks won’t hurt their prospects either. But.
You can hum these tunes.
Weird as that sounds, I think it’s true. That’s what makes this lot stand out. Compare them with Dillinger Escape Plan or Pig Destroyer (both of whom are utterly amazing), and you’ll find that this mob are a very different beast. I mean, it’s all very mental and unpredictable, but the best thing about BBTS is that they work on so many levels. The first time you listen to it, you’re rocking along because it’s so immediate, but once you’ve familiarised yourself with it (which won’t take long at all) the sheer variety in this record becomes apparent. Each section flows beautifully into the next. The music is technical, but organic too. And, like I said, you can hum these riffs. I doubt this record will ever get boring.
On a purely technical level, it’s great – this band play like a single unit, such is the tightness, so they’re proficient musicians one and all, and a superb production job makes the intricacies really shine through (especially Witte’s incredible fills), and it rocks, it rips, it slays, etc. etc. etc.- but a great album needs more than that. This has that X factor in spades. I can’t imagine how the next album will sound, and I can’t wait either.
So, like I said – fucking hell!