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Review Summary: This particular Meshuggah clone really is nothing special. Yeah, I said it. Textures are trying to be Meshuggah, is that not blindingly obvious? That's not necessarily a bad thing in itself; TesseracT do it amazingly, blending melody and ambience into the mix. After the Burial do the same, mix in melodic death, shred and a hefty dose of metalcore. Textures, however, while being the most long-standing Meshuggah imitators, do not pull it off so well on this album. They incorporate dreamy synths and the melodic choruses which are seemingly obligatory these days, but the end result on Silhouettes falls flat. Old Days Born Anew starts off on a good note; the breakdown sections are pretty cool, with the drums switching between normal and triplet timing. But the thing is, that only makes me go 'Oh, that's pretty cool.” I don't enjoy it as such. The whole song revolves around a pattern of chugging which just becomes very quickly monotonous. The 'Oh, cool' syndrome and repetitive chugs plague this album; it's almost impossible to listen the whole way through, as the monotony is just terrible.
The guitars are your standard 7-string fare in B; chug chug chug. They don't have the droning quality of later Meshuggah, but aim for the speedier polymetrics of the Destroy Erase Improve era. And they just can't do it. By half way through the second song, the guitars sound repetitive and downright dull. I will admit that the drumming is absolutely fantastic. Stef Broks is a master of finding just the right beat, be it complicated or relatively simple. He's the one worth listening to on this album if anyone is, as his performance is just stunning, even if it doesn't save the album. The synths, I hear you cry... eh. Nothing new. Effectively, their job is to give a bit more depth, but all they do is drone on, sustaining a couple of quiet chords here and there. Quite atmospheric, but one wonders if they're really essential. The vocals are a core-ish yell when harsh, and a whine when they are clean; if anything, they are the one thing that put me off. I think I could tolerate the rest of the music if the vocals weren't so intrusive and so annoyingly prominent in the mix. As for the bass - wait, there's bass?
This album is a flop. It's the first Textures album I've listened to; I can't speak for the others, but this one is just a terrible let-down, after all the hype. It's as if the band tries to do 78 different things and is OK, but not exceptional at all of them. It can't decide if it wants to be melodic death, metalcore, Meshuggah-clone, thrash, whatever. Though it mixes and match these styles to varying degrees of success, this stops them from having a real identity. They jump around these styles, making the songs a mess and their sound derivative. Don't believe the hype.
| other reviews of this album |
zuzek (4)
Textures keep on maturing as a cohesive unit....
Eternalnow (5)
Like the meaning of their name, their music is an interwoven fabric of genres, styles and layers, co...
wyankeif1337 (2.5)
A decently well-executed record that is powerless in its heavy sections and cold in its moments of e...
Ryikofurix (5)
Textures managed to top Drawing Circles, and to get on the same throne as Meshuggah....
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Album Rating: 3.5
Review is completely false, especially when it sppears to say After The Burial's new album is better than this. I mean, I guess the review is written decently enough, but I completely disagree with just about everything.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
After The Burial? Eurgh
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
I don't even particularly like ATB, but they actually manage to suck off Meshuggah better than Textures do here.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
i really dont like when Textures is said to be a Meshuggah rip off band. also ATB dont even sound like Meshuggah so that comparison is stupid.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Agreed, and ATB better than Textures = my LOL of the day.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
What I've heard of these guys hasbeen pretty damn good, have to check out the album soon.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
2??? wtf? that's like slipknot bad.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
tbh I like this more than ObZen
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
same, much more entertaining and less samey
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
definitely disagree with the review
Album rules and Awake is probably one of my favorite songs of all time. This Message Edited On 03.23.09
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
Meshuggah clone? LOL, reviewer is retarded. And Meshuggah sucks anyway.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
1.5? You've got to be joking...
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
No, the music is the joke. It's awful(but the review isn't any better).
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
Constructive crits rather than 'reviewer is retarded' please, darling.
For that matter:
I am not ragging on Textures as a whole. I am having a go at Silhouettes because it is downright terrible. Yes, even After the Burial, in all its fringe-attracting, shamelessly low F chugging, breakdown-galore glory manage to pull off the Meshuggah-cloning polymetrics a hell of a lot better than Textures do here. It's not as if I just bought the album 10 minutes before the review and decided to vent on it because it didn't click right away. I've had this since last June, I have given it time, and to me, it plain sucks. That's about all there is to it.
Another note, since some of you didn't quite seem to get the point from the intro paragraph: I have nothing against bands with a massive Meshuggah influence, but when I get a band that sounds like Destroy Erase Improve (even down to the vocals) + half-arsed synths, it really pisses me off. It's a poor effort.This Message Edited On 03.23.09This Message Edited On 03.23.09
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
It IS constructive criticism - don't make reviews full of retarded statements.
kthxbai
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
Yet again, how kind of you to point these statements out and offer suggestions, instead of whining.
Oh. Wait.
| | | Album Rating: 1.5
Who told you I'm kind? I don't NEED to point them out, seeing as the entire review consists of them. Meshuggah has never originated anything musically, so calling any band a Meshuggah clone is misleading at best. You also give absolutely no support to your opinion that this band mirrors Meshuggah, you just repeat the opinion over and over(which makes for a boring read as well as an uninformative one). Finally, even if your opinion is correct, criticizing this band for trying "to do 78 different things..." while complaining that they mimic Meshuggah is amusing, seeing as it's exactly what Meshuggah does but, since they're Meshuggah, they're more than "OK but not exceptional" at it.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
lol battle of the noobs
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HAHA lol
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
Meshuggah might not have invented polymetrics, but they popularized their use and abuse in the realm of metal, and in this case I suppose more specifically progressive metal. Most of their songs since Destroy Erase Improve have centred around a progression of riffs and grooves in straight 4/4, but with shifting accents and stresses to make everything sound like a clusterfuck of different time sigs. This is essentially what Textures do, but with a bit more melody chucked in. If you cannot hear the similarities between, I dunno, Transfixion and the rhythmic shifts in Old Days Born Anew, then you need new speakers. To be honest, I didn't feel the need to dissect them in the review like this, because I'd have thought that sounds pretty bloody obvious without me having to harp on about it.
As for the 78 different things, let's focus on Awake for a minute. Most of the track: singing, some vague synth stuff, bit of droning, almost rocky guitars... oh, wait, here come the polymetrics and the Jens impersonation. At the very least Meshuggah tend to stick to what they know nowadays instead of trying to sound like other people.
Hey, at least I'm willing to admit that it's my opinion, and unlike you, I wouldn't dream of giving it the label of being 'correct'. This is my take on the album, no more. I'm not from ANUS, I won't belittle people who just disagree with me rather than getting pissy. To those who enjoy it, cool, but I really do not see the appeal here.
Why the hell are you arguing anyway? You would appear to hate the album more than I do. Care to say why?This Message Edited On 03.23.09
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