Iwrestledabearonce - It's All Happening
Switching between an initial manically screamed moment followed by a flow of
smooth caressing vocals, 'It's All Happening", the latest offering and debut full length album from Iwrestledabearonce, kicks off.
Taking bits and pieces from almost every genre of music from extreme death
metal, to obvious Spanish influences on a section of 'Pazuzu For The Win',
electronica in many places including 'White Water In The Morning', and right
through to a bit of country and western complete with horse whinny on 'You Ain't No Family', there is no cohesion in what they're doing. 'Tastes Like Kevin Bacon' deviates yet again with a jaunty electronic beat, and a random trumpet and harp break. While 'Black Eyed Bush' provides an almost ethereal haunting melody, in one section. 'Danger in the Manger' deviates from the unintelligible screams with some crystal clear lyrics from vocalist Krysta Cameron. Her voice shining with bell like clarity. We get another glimpse at her singing abilities at the commencement of 'I'm Cold and There Are Wolves After Me'. Where she showcases her range with a sound that can be compared to many of the great Goth metal singers, before slipping into an almost Bjork like breathless whisper.
Guitarists Steven Bradley and John Ganey provide us with a range of fast and
slow melodies and are also responsible for "Programming" and they have their
hands busy with it. Not a song goes by without something unexpected, such as
the harpsichord sounds at the end of 'The Cat's Pajamas' Drummer Mical Montgomery and bassist Dave Branch manage to keep the team on track throughout the mixed beats and time changes.
Iwrestledabearonce give us a jumble of sounds with no consistent beat nor flow
within an individual song, let alone across the album. The one consistency that the album does have is the deep growling vocals backed by chunky guitars, this sound being interspersed with the craziness that occurs in each song. However it's constantly broken into with unexpected random shifts to the point where it becomes just a background while you wait for the next demented change.
They're aiming to create their own unique sound, and they've succeeded, there is nothing like them. Is that a positive thing, well, on 'It's All Happening', I don't think so. I'm all for bands creating a unique sound, but I do like my music to have some consistency to it and unfortunately 'It's All Happening' is just a mishmash of random sounds.