Review Summary: Maybe it's time we fire the family doctor that keeps taking blood samples with his mouth.
Deathcore has some average to good bands, like Suicide Silence, BMTH, and Born of Osiris. Dr. Acula isn't one of them. Dr. Acula doesn't sound like a friendly doctor, obviously. But you have to know when it's bad and when it's good. Many people like the band and this album because "it's fun". Really? Let's try to make this as painless as possible. Their talent is almost entirely wasted (if they had any) on just the first half of this album. It sucks when death metal tries to copy mainstream artists like
Nickelback. These guys did that, by biting off of Nickelback's ability to make crap, hock it, and then make a load of cash. It also breaks my heart when the former members of
My Bitter End, a good band, have fun creating "trash metal" (a tag for bad metal), or in this case "trash-core", together unintentionally. I know, it's dissonance in deathcore. But what about the good riffing, the good breakdowns, and the good music? They don't have that. After listening to "Shocker on Shock Street", I decided to see how horrible the album is as a whole. However, to avoid wasting money, I listened to the album on YouTube.
The first track (Beer Pong Massacre) is actually not that bad. It's a listenable grindcore track that's actually kind of fun to listen to once in awhile.
However, the next track (Why I'm Afraid of Bees) is the first sign of crap that you hear. Sure, maybe not much of it, but still there.
Then the song after that (Night of the Living Dummy) makes it look like each song is progressively worse than the previous one. It's pretty average.
Up to here (Go Eat Worms) is when it sounds catchy, but then the party turns into a date rape. Skip the "deathcore" bullshit and just maybe you might actually like the song.
"You Can't Scare Me" maybe acceptable to some people. To me, it's less than average. "Look how ***ing cool I am now" is the ending lyric, and this is where I suspect the band thinks is the best half of the album starts, but they couldn't be more wrong.
"Shocker on Shock Street" is the song that made me hate Dr. Acula. Listening to it again on YouTube doesn't make it any better. I'll tell you right now, skip this song!
"Piano Lessons Can Be Murder", so is this song. I couldn't wait till this song was over. The annoying samples are the best about this song, and if they are annoying as hell, what does that say about the song?
"Say Cheese and Die Again" has some great riffs and instrumental work, but the horrible vocals stand out the most. I ignored them and found the song acceptable.
"Monster Blood" has the one guitar riff and it's good at the beginning, then everyone else comes in, and it becomes total BS. The bass is almost completely out of timing. The breakdown is great, but is again overshadowed by the horrible vocals. Then, the bridge shows that the instruments are horrible (like we need a reminder) and then the outro. It's good, except the vocals are total dog shit.
Next is "The Cuckoo Clock of Doom". Truly the worst song I've ever listened to, making it the worst on the album.
"How I Got My Shrunken Head": The band's attempt at funny deathcore (comedy-core). The song sucks, plain and simple. With mediocre riffage combined with horrible vocals? You deserve a shrunken head!
"Party", one that is pretty listenable for a bit, then in a second, turns to crap, then turns to a funny bridge (on a 1-minute song), then crap again. I listen to the bridge and nothing else and found the song kinda funny.
"The Beast from the East" is no better than any other Dr. Acula song. The riffing and the spoken vocals are the only good part of this song. Ignore everything else about this song.
"Calling All Creeps": so apparently they want creeps to hate their music. This song is most definitely mediocre. The funny part in the middle is great to some extent, but the horrible vocals is what ruins the whole song (the spoken vocals are alright). The pre-outro is excellent. Why? No vocals, but then they come back during a dissonant section. *FACE PALM
So, let's recap. Dr. Acula is a band that takes samples from stand-up comedians and famous movies, ruins them by putting them inside bad songs, has horrible vocals, dissonant guitars, and think that they're a good band. I don't know about you, but that's not the kind of music I want to listen to. This is the band's second shot at a good impression, and they failed. Again. Chances are they'll give a bad one every time. So, I ask of you, do not listen to this. I heard the Social Event of the Century is good, but this is not. Please do the smart thing. Just read the lyrics, and have a laugh through that.
P.S. To Dr. Acula, in the words of your song "Party", I have just one thing to say to you: "THIS IS HOW WE PARTY SO **** OFF!!" I mean that with all my heart.
Highlights:
Funny ass lyrics
Good overall instruments (minus the mindless dissonance)
Some funny samples
Beer Pong Massacre
That's about it. Pretty sad, eh?
Cons:
The Cuckoo Clock Of Doom
Vocals sound like someone's playing Cannibal Corpse while taking a giant deuce
Inaudible bass
Makes way too much use of dissonance
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