Review Summary: A refreshing djent smoothie without all the granola.
Phagophobia. The fear of being eaten. Or in my case, being eaten by something that I would normally eat myself, that should not be eating me back. Maybe that’s why I was morbidly fascinated by that classic Cattle Decapitation artwork depicting a cow looking back defiantly as it excreted a gory pile of human remains. Enter 2017, when one-man-wonder Charles Caswell has upped the phagophobic ante with a roided-up Cuthulian strawberry-monstrosity making a nutritious smoothie of decapitated human heads on the cover. The art spoke to me on such a deep level that I knew I had to dig into this album, and I’m very glad I did.
When Reflections broke up in 2015 — most of its members bought out by pimp-extraordinaire Frankie Palmeri of Emmure— 7-string demigod Caswell decided to focus on his own project with full creative control. The result is no-less than an evolutionary step in the Djent genre.
What makes Berried Alive’s Fool’s Gold such a successful album is twofold, the first reason being the vocal approach. While bands of this ilk tend to go for harsh screams off-set by soaring clean-vocal hooks, Casswell eschews the screaming almost entirely and instead employs a Jonas Renkse style to his singing; ‘Look at you now… Your time has melted away… Look at the price that you’re paying… Chasing the fool’s gold…’ he sighs on cinematic opener Prosthetic Progression, sounding tired, defeated, at a loss. His vocals don’t drive this album at all, instead their drug along for the ride like an unwilling captive, adding almost a layer of shoegaze atmosphere to the album.
The other element that elevates Fool’s Gold is the impeccable musicianship. If Reflections proved Caswell to be a force to be reckoned with, his guitar-work on this thing raises the bar yet again for the genre. Tracks like No One Is Listening and T/T fire off diabolic licks and eye-popping solos at the drop of a pin. While Caswell is primarily know for his crazy jumbled ear-piercing riffs, a surprising amount of this album is melancholic and post-rocky in its restraint, really highlighting the forlorn vocals on tracks like Catalina Beach, Chewed Up Spit Out, and Salida.
If there’s anything holding Fool’s Gold back, it’s that it’s at times almost too melodic, sorely lacking those cacophonous riffs that were Reflections’ calling-card, but I can see why Caswell wanted to distance himself from that signature sound and strike out on his own into different territory. He has succeeded with flying colours and Fool’s Gold is a genre triumph, so mix yourself a nice strawberry smoothie and start djenting, what are you waiting for.
