Review Summary: Jaw Dropper may be a bit of an overstatment, but nonetheless the band crafts a unique, if uncontrolled, piece of music
I managed to find out about I Am Abomination from this site, and when I first heard them I wasn't very impressed. The blend of electronica with progressive metal sounds absolutely terrible on paper, and on the first play through (at least for me), it was. The vocals are auto-tuned, or sound like they're being sung by a robot, and the songwriting is quite bad.
But, I as listened to the EP more, I discovered that there just might be something there underneath the preliminary play through. Something lurking beneath the absolute wank-fest this EP is, promise. I can now confidently say that I Am Abomination's debut, while still rough around the edges, is quite the enjoyable piece of music.
As I mentioned before the vocals are just terrible. Imagine T-Pain singing in a metal band. Not pretty, right? The songwriting is also regretfully, garbage. It seems like they just threw together any old riff they could find in hopes that it would resemble a coherent song. The electronica elements are completely superfluous, seeming like they wanted to add another layer onto the music that unfortunately has no rightful place being there. However, if you manage to make it past all these significant inadequacies, and instead take the music for what it is, you'll discover that it is actually one enjoyable ride.
The guitars absolutely shred on this EP, as do the drums. They almost always spiral out of control, but that thankfully takes attention off the singer. The guitar play some pretty interesting riffs and some intense, technical solos. The drums lay down some pretty intriguing beats, most of which revolve around the double bass pedal. The fills can be a bit on the generic side, but the beats throughout the song generally make up for that. The strange thing is, they manage to do so while maintaing a searingly catchy edge, showing that the group has some pop sensibilities as well as technical skill. The bass is nigh un-heard throughout the EP, but again the main focus seems to be on the guitar and drums. Lyrically the band is nothing spectacular, I've definitely heard better, but I've also heard far worse. They mostly focus on the standard political fare, most of which has been heard before.
In conclusion, if you go into this album thinking your going to find some deep meaning behind the music, look elsewhere. This EP is not meant to be anything more than music you blast in your car on those warm summer days. I realized that that was the meaning of the music all along. Sure I was disappointed when I listened to it the first time and there was virtually nothing there I could find meaning in, but that's not the point. It is not meant to be anything ground-breaking or revelatory, hell, I'm sure this is a regression from making music with meaning. Thankfully they make up for it with technically sound and altogether unique music, and, if you can make it past the ridiculousness of the album, it is one hell of a ride.
