Symphorce Twice Second
Metal Blade 3984-14473-2 27.01.04
By Anna Novitzky
Somewhere theres a factory where they churn out this kind of stuff. Its probably got a production line: John puts in the heavy guitars, Mandy puts in the speed drumming, Sarah glues on the gravelly growling, and, hang on, wheres Andy? He was supposed to add some originality to this lot. Oh, never mind, no onell notice.
So, Symphorce. Imagine a cut-price Metallica rip-off. Not hard, theres a lot of them about. Got it? Right. Thats Twice Second. It has its moments, with decent guitar solos and some intriguing floaty ethereal bits. But, basically, from the heavy power chords to the throaty snarl of the vocals, this is one big tribute to the Tallica.
Track three, Whatever Hate provides, was amusing until I realised that they were saying my heads full of lies rather than my heads full of lice. Track ten, Cry on My Shoulder, grabbed my attention while it sounded as if it was about to break into panpipes (it didnt). The cover, with its skeletons of seahorses and other unfortunate fish, was quite pretty. These, though, were brief satisfying moments of interest in an album that is not so much poor as terminally average.
Symphorces problem, I feel, is that they take themselves a mite too seriously. Which, with sleeve notes reading theres a water leakage problem from the outside that turns into the flooding of a thermal vision, is not good. However, there is a saving grace. One of the band thanks Pirates of the Caribbeans Captain Jack Sparrow in the sleeve notes, so they cant be all bad.
Official Symphorce Website
Official Metablade Website
Metal Blade 3984-14473-2 27.01.04
By Anna Novitzky
Somewhere theres a factory where they churn out this kind of stuff. Its probably got a production line: John puts in the heavy guitars, Mandy puts in the speed drumming, Sarah glues on the gravelly growling, and, hang on, wheres Andy? He was supposed to add some originality to this lot. Oh, never mind, no onell notice.
So, Symphorce. Imagine a cut-price Metallica rip-off. Not hard, theres a lot of them about. Got it? Right. Thats Twice Second. It has its moments, with decent guitar solos and some intriguing floaty ethereal bits. But, basically, from the heavy power chords to the throaty snarl of the vocals, this is one big tribute to the Tallica.
Track three, Whatever Hate provides, was amusing until I realised that they were saying my heads full of lies rather than my heads full of lice. Track ten, Cry on My Shoulder, grabbed my attention while it sounded as if it was about to break into panpipes (it didnt). The cover, with its skeletons of seahorses and other unfortunate fish, was quite pretty. These, though, were brief satisfying moments of interest in an album that is not so much poor as terminally average.
Symphorces problem, I feel, is that they take themselves a mite too seriously. Which, with sleeve notes reading theres a water leakage problem from the outside that turns into the flooding of a thermal vision, is not good. However, there is a saving grace. One of the band thanks Pirates of the Caribbeans Captain Jack Sparrow in the sleeve notes, so they cant be all bad.
Official Symphorce Website
Official Metablade Website
