Review Summary: Groove metal done competently and more than worth the free download.
The manifold impact of the Internet in the music world has been amply discussed and is well known to all. However, like with every other innovation before it, the World Wide Web as a diffusionary and communicative tool appealed more to certain bands than to others. While some artists, particularly the largest in popularity, have a website or MySpace page just because they "have to" - using it as basically a complement to the still-predominant record and merchandise sales - other have decided to fully embrace the digital world, regularly offering their albums as a stream on their pages or making them available as a free or paid download. And then, like with every scene, there are the bands who take it to the extreme, making the Internet their sole vehicle of diffusion and prefering to reap the rewards of live ticket sales or merchandise.
Severed Fifth are just one of those bands. The one-man groove-metal project's main claim to fame is to be the brainchild of Jono Bacon, community manager for popular Linux software provder Ubuntu; and, nerd extraordinaire that he is, Bacon is not above using his extensive knowledge of the online world to advance his musical career. Hence Severed Fifth's modus operandi, which consists of entirely free, fan-assisted releases, with the sole profits coming from voluntary donations by those same fans. And for something this openly free, and entirely produced by a single party, the least one can say is that the results are stellar.
In fact, Severed Fifth may not be the best groove-metal act of all time, nor do they reinvent the wheel, but they rank firmly above most other mysogynistic vanity projects., particularly public-domain ones. Bacon's influences may be rather easy to pin down, and some of his work still a tad pedestrian, but he at least manages to keep the listener's interest throughout and make them willing to give this album additional spins in the near future.
Sound-wise, this album is reminiscent first and foremost of one band: Fear Factory. The similarities are undeniable, from the obviously triggered drums to the harsh-clean vocal duality, the slight industrial overtones and the abundant use of samples. However, other influences also make themselves quite clear, with certain passages of the album recalling acts like Sepultura, Criminal, Pantera, Machine Head or even Arch Enemy. In fact, if Robb Flynn or Anton Reisenegger had been fronting Fear Factory, the results might have come dangerously close to what is heard here.
Where Severed Fifth loses in relation to those bands, then, is in the production values, which leave the vocals far too high in the mix, the guitars sounding thin and tinny and the bass all both chopped off, being heard only on occasion throughout the eight songs. However, Bacon manages to overcome this lack of resources via his songwriting, which, while not always stellar, is never less than entertaining. Predictably, the songs are at their best when they skirt the traditional groove-metal mold to cover extra ground, as in the case of the excellent
War, a song driven mostly by clean vocals and acoustic guitar which ranks as the absolute standout of
Denied By Reign. Following closely on its footstepts are
Edge Of Design - a track so Fear Factory-esque it would make the band's current incarnation blush - and opener
Beating Heart, where some female vocals are put to good use. And while there are still instances of extremely pedestrian groove-metal here - like
Take The Test, which condenses all the worst groove-metal clichés into a handy three minutes, or the painfully throwaway
Enslaved By Pain - those three songs alone more thanjustify the download. The occurrence of strong backup tracks such as
Dollar Plague and the intelligent, actually meaningful lyrical messages are merely additional perks which helps make this release even more worthwhile.
In the end, then, Severed Fifth's first contribution to the music world is a perfectly valid, enjoyable release. Had this been a "physical" release, it may not have been worth the full price of admission - it is far too derivative for that - but it would certainly be an excellent budget or even mid-price buy. The fact that it's free makes it nigh-on mandatory, and helps gloss over minor problems such as the songs' occasional lack of direction. It also helps set the anticipation for the project's second release,
Nightmares By Desing, very high. Here's hoping Bacon won't disappoint and will make the more melodic explorations of his second release as good as the refined harshness of his first.
Recommended Tracks
Beating Heart
Edge Of Design
War
Download it officially and for FREE here: http://www.severedfifth.com/releases
