Review Summary: What in the bloody hell is going on?
In the world of technical metal, SikTh has always set themselves apart from the rest of the pack due to certain...eccentricities. Of course the wildly technical instrumentation set them apart slightly, but the most notable oddity of SikTh has always been the dual vocals of Mikee Goodman and Justin Hill. Both vocalists have always managed to sound fairly unique by employing a few odd techniques, such as the slightly overbearing spoken word segments and the ever so interesting mixture of falsetto and screaming vocals.
I can safely say that the vocals on this EP slightly outdo anything SikTh has produced since in terms of sheer strangeness. It almost seems as if Mikee and Justin were trying to see how many noises they could produce with their vocal chords. The vocals go back and forth from interesting clean singing, harsh screaming, an almost Johnathan Davis like growl, spoken word with a thick (fake) Spanish accent, a very Monty Pythonesque high pitched woman voice, something that sounds like an Elvis impression, and many more in between. On a few occasions, they really just make a bunch of random noise, (such as the end of How May I Help You? where they make explosion noises with their mouths, much like a 5 year old would, or the end of Suffice where Mikee just makes a bunch of incoherent noise that almost sounds like Donnie from The Wild Thornberries).
The instruments are also just as interesting. The guitars obviously display a lot of technical ability (though not as much as on their two full lenghts) and the bass often keeps up with the guitars in terms of technical ability. Aside from technicality, there is also a wealth of creativity on display (the harmonics section in How My I Help You? is especially interesting). The drums also throw out a constant barrage of pummeling beats and interesting fills. The only downside to the album is that, at times, it just gets far to weird for most listeners. For example, the final song, Tupelo, is seven and a half minutes long, and mostly centers around a tribal-esque drum beat while the vocalists attempt to use as many odd deliveries as possible (including the seemingly Elvis impersonating vocals).
When it comes down to it, the album is very interesting and creative, but at times it just becomes weird to the point of being abrasive. Most listeners just wouldn't be able to sit through a song that contains so many change ups and strikingly weird elements as the songs found here. Also, this is only an EP, and its only about 15 minutes in length. However, I feel like if it was any longer then it would really be just way to hard to handle. For those interested in the beginning of SikTh, or if you feel like indulging in some uber weird technical metal, I suggest you buy this as its only about $3 on iTunes. If anything, you'll get quite a few laughs out of it.
