special introductory paragraph!
Heads
Nothing To Remember
Melodic metal! Chords of heaviness but catchiness and emotionality and goodness! Lots of high chimey arpeggios all mixed up with low E's and such! I suppose this is nu-metal, but the guitar interplay is more troubled and intelligent than your normal everyday Korn Band. At least they play NOTES in addition to just simplistic heavy pound pound pound thud thud thud boring crap like some of those bands that people who listen to the radio hear sometimes. But hey! What am I, preaching to the converter? If you're into the heavy parts of Linkin Park songs, try 40 Grit for a musically smarter rendition of same. Nu-metal fans, back up: there's a new girl in town -- and her name is FIFTY SHIT!
Note to self: Call band's publicist before posting; make sure it's okay to call her band "FIFTY SHIT." HAY! Wanna hear something hilarious??? I just checked the band's web site -- apparently they broke up less than TWO WEEKS AGO!!! Way to go, Prind, with your timing!!! Also, they're from Concorde, CA. Or would be, if they were still together.
Not to gross you out right off the bat here, but I've got a new pet complaint I need to air, lest it tear a rift between me and the rest of the world. Please forgive the grotesque language I'm about to use, but the only thesaurus I own is A Hundred And One Horse Jokes: Who the hell decided that it's okay to fart at the urinal? The urinal is for quietly draining your kidneys of urine; if you have to make stupid "BRAAP!" noises and stink up the joint, have the common sense to lock yourself into a stall so I won't picture you farting into your pants every subsequent time I see you elsewhere in the workplace. A--HOLE!!!! No, better yet, make that 'AS-HOLE!' to make sure you fully understand my position on the matter. When 40 Grit released their debut Metal Blade CD way back at the turn of the 18th century, they were a very detuned, heavy and intelligent band dedicated to churning out thick, mountainous and (check this out -- I'm totally going to use a bit of slang I picked up from the "skater head" culture) "sick" chord sequences with a high ringing vibratoed lead guitar wash counter-attacking on top. Sort of like a more emotional Helmet, with spiritual high echoey notes pleading for human understanding in a world of really heavy detuned boots stepping all over it in neat, unorthodox patterns. The only downside was that the vocals were too macho and shouty, and during those moments that the music wasn't burying your head in the ground with an ostrich, it was unfortunately playing some lame funk-rap-metal brouhaha. Say, that reminds me of a hilarious joke. What fuzzy part of Lowen's face did Steve rip off? Lowen's (eye) BROU - HA HA!!! If I may make a sudden, unnerving shift into the present tense, another thing that makes this first 40 Grit CD an above-average gas to drink is the way they keep introducing cool new parts to each song while still maintaining enough repetition to not confuse my "can't quite keep up with death metal or jazz" attention span. Even when the main riff of a song is the incorrect creation of wrong songwriters making a compositional mistake, there's always a selection of great intros, kickass middle parts and daring outros to choose from. So musically, we're big and enjoying it! I have to belittle the vocals though and argue that their generic grunge machismo makes the band sound a lot less innovative and more status quo than they actually are. I'm sure they'll take that bit of advice into account now that they've broken up. Ha ha! Check out this hilarious joke from my thesaurus! If one horse is locked in a stable and another horse is running free, which one is singing, "Don't Fence Me In"? Neither! Horses can't read!
Perhaps a bit fed up with touring endlessly to no profitable end, the 40 Grit slices of home went a bit more commercial on their eponymous second Metal Blade debut, entitled Nothing But Cucumbers. The dark side of this development is that the riffs aren't anywhere near as novel as those on album A; the corresponding light side of this yin-yang "glass half-empty/glass half-full" battle between good and evil, Scylla and Charybdis, irresistible object and unmoveable thingy, is that the vocals are MUCH more melodic and the songs - as radio-ready as they are - are plenty catchy emo-metal. And if a band can't make my brain go, "Wow! Cool twist-of-chords you discovered there!," I appreciate them at least making my fag-bone go, "I've felt that kind of pain! I know what it's like to lose a girlfriend!" -- especially when the singer uses a gruff adult SINGING style (strangely reminiscent at times of the singer from GWAR) rather than a chest-hair Stone Temple Pilots "YeeeeeAAAH!" approach. To summarize the band's entire seven-year career in one half-sentence: both 40 Grit CDs are pretty good, but in different ways. Nothing To Remember is the Nevermind to Head's Bleach; it's not as musically interesting, but will probably appeal much more to your average radio listener. But did they GET any radio play for it? I doubt it. Not enough boy-band appeal to win over a broad audience the way Linkin Park has. And by "broad," I mean "female." With GAMS up to HERE! Check out the engines on THAT one! Hey, you need a place to sit down, baby? Let me clear you a spot. (*wipes face off with industrial-strength cleaner*) AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY ARE MY EYES LOOKING AT ME FROM THE FLOOR!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
And besides, what's so immature about face-sitting/industrial-solvent-abuse jokes? When I was twelve I didn't even know what face sitting or industrial solvents were for.
In conclusion, I'm almost willing to bet that Cris was the singer, but I could be wrong. I think he read your review that liked pretty much everything in the band but him, and then he decided he'd bring some of that macho nu-metal attitude he's got such a flare for on over and open a digital can-a-whupass on you. Or maybe he's just a tiny, pre-pubescent girl in a training bra that can't take criticism or odd humor. Or maybe, just maybe.... He's both.
Oh yeah. And I've never heard or heard of this band before. So I definitely know what I'm talking about.
Blow me, Cris Anderson.
I keep coming to your site for updates because I see several good artists from the past: Neil Young, Cows, Soundgarden, Helios Creed, Melvins, King Crimson, Chrome, etc.....
The few months I've been coming you haven't reviewed one good cd. Get your act together, even if you don't like good music anymore. At least get other people to review good stuff for us!
If you listen to only shit music now, I don't know man, good luck getting back to the good.
One drains one's bladder of urine, not one's kidneys. At least, I do anyway. To each his/her own.
damn, are you 12?
Well.... Mr. Cris Anderson sure does know how to look a mostly favorable reviewer right in the eyes and kick him in the nuts, doesn't he? If I had been in a mostly unknown band that wasn't even together anymore and I read in someone's reviews that they liked the group, I'd write him and say thanks. Even if the group wasn't still together anymore or if I didn't like the reviewer's style. I wouldn't derisively call him a twelve year old for cracking face-sitting/industrial-solvent-abuse jokes.
WTF Prindle!
You used to be a Cows fan... this is bullshit
There's pleanty good artists you haven't reviewd, every amprep band for example and tons of alternative rock, prog rock, stoner rock, etc.....
Cut the crap man.
Buy 40 Grit Cds HERE!!!