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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Review: Iwrestledabearonce - It's All Happening


Iwrestledabearonce - It's All Happening
2009, Century Media


Iwrestledabearonce is part of the new movement in Punk/Thrash/Hardcore Rock toward the compositional elements of Progressive Rock. The Louisiana quintet is perhaps the most original and unique punk act to come along in the new millennium. Iwrestledabearonce is distinctive on so many levels its hard to know where to start. You'll hear comparisons to The Devil Wears Prada, but Iwrestledabearonce is bigger, faster, harder and more creative. Iwrestledabearonce's debut album, It's All Happening, will be released on June 2, 2009. Are you ready?

Iwrestledabearonce is a thrash metal band unafraid of incorporating electronic music into their sound and also has some serious Prog tendencies. I personally am not big on the screaming thing, but Krysta Cameron is a very sound vocalist when singing. You'll need a lyric book to follow along, and the songwriting can be downright chaotic, changing from stave to stave and even measure to measure between lyric, melodic rock and Thrash/Prog. You Ain't No Family establishes the base sound, but it's the second track, White Water In The Morning that truly throws down the gauntlet for listeners. The song is completely over the top, with Krysta Cameron really getting her scream on (particularly in the second half of the song). Danger In The Manger is manic and maniacal; have fun trying to keep up. Tastes Like Kevin Bacon is all over the map and would appear to incorporate a distinct sense of humor but remains undecipherable in at least some portions of the song. Other highlights include Pazuzu For The Win, Eli Cash Vs. the Godless Savages and See You In Shell.

Iwrestledabearonce is going to be huge. Sitting at the forefront of a new movement in hardcore music, this Prog/Thrash behemoth is just a little bit faster and a little bit better than anyone currently on the scene. That's not to say other bands won't catch up, but the chaotic nature of the songwriting is bound to make bands like Yes and King Crimson applaud in appreciation. It's All Happening is a pretty heavy record and won't be appreciated by everyone, but the Artpunk crowd should elevate Iwrestledabearonce to icon status.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Iwrestledabearonce at http://www.iwrestledabearonce.com/ or www.myspace.com/iwrestledabearonce. You can order copies of It’s All Happening at Amazon.com, or download the album through iTunes.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow you really have no idea about music.
no prog, no thrash.

its called mathcore, look it up.

Wildy said...

Anonymous,

Just because you're too young to realize someone may have thought of these things before...

Thrash Metal is the style/name originally on bands like Metallica when they were emerging back in the 1980s.

Progressive rock was an outgrowth of of attempts to combine Rock and Jazz with classical time signatures and song construction. Now let's see what Wikipedia has to say about Mathcore:

Mathcore (also known as technical metalcore, technical hardcore, and math metal) is a style of metalcore recognized for a high level of technical musicianship. The subgenre has its roots in bands like Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
The music is usually filled with discordant, somewhat technical riffing, complex time signatures and song structures, and passionate, energetic vocals. Songs played by bands of this style tend to vary from mere seconds in length to over 15 minutes and rarely feature a conventional verse-chorus song structure. Bands of the mathcore genre, because they are not commercially viable, are often categorized differently depending upon the whims of journalists. Because metalcore is a hardcore punk/heavy metal crossover, bands such as Converge, and The Dillinger Escape Plan are often referred to as "hardcore," and still others, such as As the Sun Sets and Daughters, are labelled as grindcore and noisecore, though only influenced by one or both genres. Other styles of music, such as blues-rock and free jazz, have been known to inspire various mathcore bands. Coalesce have been influenced by the former, to the extent of releasing a Led Zeppelin cover EP named There Is Nothing New Under the Sun, whereas The Dillinger Escape Plan are known to credit the latter. Training for Utopia derived a sound that was more reminicent of bands like Neurosis and Today is the Day, then fused synthesizers and odd tempo changes.
Mathcore (also known as technical metalcore, technical hardcore, and math metal) is a style of metalcore recognized for a high level of technical musicianship. The subgenre has its roots in bands like Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
The music is usually filled with discordant, somewhat technical riffing, complex time signatures and song structures, and passionate, energetic vocals. Songs played by bands of this style tend to vary from mere seconds in length to over 15 minutes and rarely feature a conventional verse-chorus song structure. Bands of the mathcore genre, because they are not commercially viable, are often categorized differently depending upon the whims of journalists. Because metalcore is a hardcore punk/heavy metal crossover, bands such as Converge, and The Dillinger Escape Plan are often referred to as "hardcore," and still others, such as As the Sun Sets and Daughters, are labelled as grindcore and noisecore, though only influenced by one or both genres. Other styles of music, such as blues-rock and free jazz, have been known to inspire various mathcore bands. Coalesce have been influenced by the former, to the extent of releasing a Led Zeppelin cover EP named There Is Nothing New Under the Sun, whereas The Dillinger Escape Plan are known to credit the latter. Training for Utopia derived a sound that was more reminicent of bands like Neurosis and Today is the Day, then fused synthesizers and odd tempo changes.


Hmmmm... sure sounds like progressive rock combined with Thrash Metal to me.

Score 1 for the hapless blogger with no idea about music. :)

peterpwnshob said...

yeah all u did was look up genres on wikipedia, they have so many genres of music its to hard to categorize.

Wildy said...

Yes, to prove a point to the little anonymou ruffian who thinks his generation was the first to think of anything.

The whole categorization thing becomes a mess after a while, because each successive generation reguritates older sounds in a new form or image (and sometimes just redoes a genre outright) and puts their own name on it. It's kind of like your mom writing your name on your toys with magic marker when you were little. It's an ownership ideal that we all seem to have a psychological need for, but makes having discussions about styles across generations difficult at times.

Respectful and courteous comments/discussions are always welcome.