Review Summary: High velocity, high intensity
Eleven and a half minutes really isn’t a lot of time. That’s the length of a relaxing shower, the time it takes to drink your morning cup of coffee, or maybe even the amount of time it takes for you to comprehend that you are indeed awake and need to be a productive member of society that day. Hell, it took longer to write this review in hindsight. To put it simply, it goes by in a blink of an eye compared to the rest of your day. So, what makes an album justifiably eleven and a half minutes long? In the case of
74K34514NR013X, each precious second is filled with intensity and chaos.
With their debut, FAKE ASIAN ROLEX embrace an unrelenting mathgrind sound full of dissonant riffs, abrasive drumming, and screams and screeches of all varieties of aggression. With such a short run time, it’s hard to view each track individually, so it’s easiest just to see it as one cohesive effort. Throughout the record, the guitar work shifts from dissonant chords to bouncy riffs that keep the listener engaged. At sporadic moments, additional layers of eerie lead work emphasis an odd sense of melody that feels more off-putting than beautiful in the best way possible. Complementing the intensity of the guitars, the drum grooves never fail to maintain its high intensity aura, accentuating each brutal moment in the short effort. Alongside this, the screams have a high-pitched tonality to them, like that of Jacob Bannon’s screeches in
Jane Doe-era Converge (which also seems to be a highly influential record for this group’s style). However, despite the abrasive nature of the project, the duration aids in providing listeners with a short experience that packs a punch.
To reiterate my point, eleven and a half minutes isn’t a lot of time. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What
74K34514NR013X succeeds at is providing listeners with just enough intensity to satisfy the mathgrind sound without overstepping its welcome. Not only that, but there is just enough virtuosity and proficiency within the record to award further repeated listens. It may not be much time, but it’s a good time nonetheless.
