The first time I heard Die Mannequin was at a Guns'n'roses concert and they were the opening band. I thought they were decent and there C.D.s were in the lobby for $10(Canadian) so I decided to pick it up. You might think this is a bit much for an EP but is well worth the money. The songs are origanal thank to the vocals of Care Failure and they are decant musicans for a trio of teenagers. Welcome to Die Mannequin "How to Kill".
The History:
There isn't alot of history to the band except they came from Canada. The band consists of Care Faliure(vocals), Sparkels(Bass) and Ghostwolf(Drums), all those names are nicknames of course. Die Mannequin was inspired by the following: Sonic Youth, Grand master flash & the furious, super rhymes, justice and force mc's. The age of the band members are 16.
This album is a very solid and consistent album that features great songs of different callibers, though some can get a little repetitive. Musican wise DM are a solid band giving there sound a hard punk feeling and it also helps that they are decnt musicans aswell. I would defintetly suspect to see these guys go big soon since they are capabel of writing excellent material with a hard rock sound as demonstrates on 'Fatherpunk" arguabley the best track IMO with a fast simple guitar riff and a beat with loose high-hats is a recipe for sucess. The band also has an emotional side with the track "Donut Kill Self" that really shows the true vocal skills of Care Faliure. As for the punkier side of DM the song "Near the End" would be a perfect example with a fast tempo chorus, rebelious lyrics and audible bass= cool punk sound. Speaking of the bass, it's usally unheard but came out of hiding in "Near the End". As for "Autunm Cannibalist", the track mixes all aspects of the band and creates a brilliant song and also contains the best druming and lyrics on the album.
I found that the only downsides was the repetitveness of guitar riffs in one or two songs. Lyrically the band is quite repettive aswell but can still be creative, the repettiveness stands out mostly in "Near the End" since the song says not to push me off the edge over and over. The over and over concept continues throughout the album espacially in "Donut Kill Self" that tackles the saddness of someone cheating on Care Failure. One thing that I did like about the lyrics was it stayed away from teen angst themes(despit being teenagers themselves). I'm afraid that this album is going to be crap after a week because the album seems to have that sort of atmosphere. The Choruses throghout the album are very memorable with the singers passionate voice that still sounds like a rocker voice. Despite the shortness of the album I would strongly recomend getting it or at least download some songs. I also found the drumming not as good as when there on stage on many songs. I'm curious to hear from these guys soon because they sound promising and opened for some good bands. This album is good for just about any rock fan if your open to the band and its casual reppetitveness. In conclussion this is how the album turned out.
Pros-
+Musically solid
+Good Vocals
+Hard sound
Cons-
-Bass can't be heard
-Repettive Guitar
-Repettive Lyrics
Song ratings:
1. Autunm Cannibilist 4/5
2. Near the End 3.5/5
3. Fatherpunk 4.5/5
4. Donut Kill Self 3.5/5
Overall Score of How to Kill: 3.75/5
