Found Dead Hanging - Dulling Occams Razor
2003 - Black Market Activities
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Black Market Activities website.
This is a debut EP that has been causing some raging debate on metal and hardcore sites across the 'net - some are claiming that Found Dead Hanging are the best thing to hit the metalcore scene in some time, others are claiming extreme dissatisfaction, and still others place them firmly in the 'meh' camp. Me personally? I love 'em, and can't wait to hear more.
Take the fractured riffage and tortured emotion of Converge. Throw in some of the density and aggression of 'Celestial'-era Isis. Add in a dash of cathartic meltdown a la earlier Neurosis. Condense all these elements down into three-minutes-or-less, pressurised bursts, then stand well back and wait for the explosion to occur. If the alchemical process described above were ever to occur, the resulting noise would be so close to Found Dead Hanging's brand of head-crushingly heavy metalcore as to make no difference.
The extreme brevity of the songs and their constantly jarring, off-kilter rhythms couple with the apopleptic rage displayed in their delivery to create a listening experience so unenamoured with the concepts of structure or compromise, that the listener is constantly left reeling. You are rarely given a moment to catch your breath before the next speed change, pinch-harmonic dissonance burst, lung-destroying yell or percussive onslaught sweeps every conscious thought from your mind and leaves nothing but the rage behind the song.
There is nothing at all that even resembles a hook or a traditional song structure - simply the outpouring of enmity in an almost Tourette's-esque, stream-of-consciousness style. If you want catchy, memorable songs, then I strongly suggest you run screaming from this debut altogether. If, however, you can bear a short, 15-minute carpet bombing of pure relentless metalcore intensity, then I heartily recommend you pick this up right away.
8/10
2003 - Black Market Activities
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Black Market Activities website.
This is a debut EP that has been causing some raging debate on metal and hardcore sites across the 'net - some are claiming that Found Dead Hanging are the best thing to hit the metalcore scene in some time, others are claiming extreme dissatisfaction, and still others place them firmly in the 'meh' camp. Me personally? I love 'em, and can't wait to hear more.
Take the fractured riffage and tortured emotion of Converge. Throw in some of the density and aggression of 'Celestial'-era Isis. Add in a dash of cathartic meltdown a la earlier Neurosis. Condense all these elements down into three-minutes-or-less, pressurised bursts, then stand well back and wait for the explosion to occur. If the alchemical process described above were ever to occur, the resulting noise would be so close to Found Dead Hanging's brand of head-crushingly heavy metalcore as to make no difference.
The extreme brevity of the songs and their constantly jarring, off-kilter rhythms couple with the apopleptic rage displayed in their delivery to create a listening experience so unenamoured with the concepts of structure or compromise, that the listener is constantly left reeling. You are rarely given a moment to catch your breath before the next speed change, pinch-harmonic dissonance burst, lung-destroying yell or percussive onslaught sweeps every conscious thought from your mind and leaves nothing but the rage behind the song.
There is nothing at all that even resembles a hook or a traditional song structure - simply the outpouring of enmity in an almost Tourette's-esque, stream-of-consciousness style. If you want catchy, memorable songs, then I strongly suggest you run screaming from this debut altogether. If, however, you can bear a short, 15-minute carpet bombing of pure relentless metalcore intensity, then I heartily recommend you pick this up right away.
8/10
