Taken - And They Slept
Goodfellow Records - 2001
By Philip Whitehouse
Visit the Taken web site
Visit the Goodfellow Records web site
Every reviewer, after a while, develops a certain style - a specific way of doing things, of describing bands, of getting the message across to the reader. As people may have noticed by now, my description of a band's sound normally goes to this formula :
"(band no. 1) sound like (band no. 2) (in an amusing situation with) (band no. 3)".
That's how I do things. Unfortunately, this is going to make me sound stupid now, because when I was presented with this album, this is the mental picture I got: Taken sound like The Dillinger Escape Plan running in to break up a fight between At The Drive-In and Pennywise in the mosh-pit at an Opeth gig.
Allow me to explain. Taken specialise in a mix of hardcore and melodic metal, but manage to throw in little touches that are reminiscent of everything else - their willfull dissonance, jarring rhythm changes and almost liquid time-signatures recall the Dillinger boys at their most obtuse, but every section manages to segue seamlessly into the next - hence the Opeth reference, the masters of making opposing musical passages flow into each other. When Taken settle (however temporarily) into a groove, it usually manages to evoke memories of those MIA in El Paso, At The Drive-In, at their most aggressive and energetic, but can occasionally recall the hyper-speed punkiness of Pennywise.
I realise none of this probably helps much, but trust me when I say that it is a very, very good thing. Taken literally blew me away when I heard them, and I still can't stop listening to them now! 'Beauty In Dead Flowers' is a charming but still mildly disturbing instrumental piece performed only on keyboards and guitar, while 'The Most Feared Thing' sounds like the sonic embodiment of an apoplexy of rage.
The jumpy, inconstant nature of the songs manages to avoid being annoying and jarring but instead keeps the listener hooked, waiting for the next section, anticipating the next passage.
Basically, Taken are in my opinion the best band I've heard in a long time. I'd recommend them most highly to anyone, but particularly those who think that the Dillinger Escape Plan are musical geniuses - Taken will make them look like drooling imbeciles.
10/10
Goodfellow Records - 2001
By Philip Whitehouse
Visit the Taken web site
Visit the Goodfellow Records web site
Every reviewer, after a while, develops a certain style - a specific way of doing things, of describing bands, of getting the message across to the reader. As people may have noticed by now, my description of a band's sound normally goes to this formula :
"(band no. 1) sound like (band no. 2) (in an amusing situation with) (band no. 3)".
That's how I do things. Unfortunately, this is going to make me sound stupid now, because when I was presented with this album, this is the mental picture I got: Taken sound like The Dillinger Escape Plan running in to break up a fight between At The Drive-In and Pennywise in the mosh-pit at an Opeth gig.
Allow me to explain. Taken specialise in a mix of hardcore and melodic metal, but manage to throw in little touches that are reminiscent of everything else - their willfull dissonance, jarring rhythm changes and almost liquid time-signatures recall the Dillinger boys at their most obtuse, but every section manages to segue seamlessly into the next - hence the Opeth reference, the masters of making opposing musical passages flow into each other. When Taken settle (however temporarily) into a groove, it usually manages to evoke memories of those MIA in El Paso, At The Drive-In, at their most aggressive and energetic, but can occasionally recall the hyper-speed punkiness of Pennywise.
I realise none of this probably helps much, but trust me when I say that it is a very, very good thing. Taken literally blew me away when I heard them, and I still can't stop listening to them now! 'Beauty In Dead Flowers' is a charming but still mildly disturbing instrumental piece performed only on keyboards and guitar, while 'The Most Feared Thing' sounds like the sonic embodiment of an apoplexy of rage.
The jumpy, inconstant nature of the songs manages to avoid being annoying and jarring but instead keeps the listener hooked, waiting for the next section, anticipating the next passage.
Basically, Taken are in my opinion the best band I've heard in a long time. I'd recommend them most highly to anyone, but particularly those who think that the Dillinger Escape Plan are musical geniuses - Taken will make them look like drooling imbeciles.
10/10
