Four Strokes Baron: Diamond Data

In recent months, maybe a couple of years now, I’ve begun pondering exactly what it is that compels a band/project/artist to send their latest musical musings to us here at SoT - The Web Destination for Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal & Jazz Fusion - and to be fair Classic Rock to Stoner Doom, Extreme Metal and everything else in between. Four Strokes Baron (what an utterly terrible band name that is) fall nowhere near any of that, although I guess you could shoehorn the term ‘metal’ into what this Nevada duo create… maybe add industrial, djent, electronic-avant?

All the vocals run through some kind of processing, they often merge with grating synths, and pretty much always gnarl at the senses in a way that forces you to try and shoo them away. To be fair, there are some real arrangement skills on show between Kirk Witt (vocals and guitars) and Matt Vallarino (drums), with seemingly divergent ideas hurtling headlong into each other on the likes of “1000 Threads� without quite unravelling as its name suggests. However, it all just leaves me, in truth, desperate for it to end - an album that began as two EPs (one electronic and one metal-based) showing few redeeming features as it clanks and grinds through a selection of tracks that, while unlike anyone else, still somehow sound like nothing new.

I don’t often write reviews quite as disparaging as this, and I take little pleasure in doing so, but to come back to my first thought, I can’t hear anything on Diamond Data that would appeal to a regular visitor to the SoT reviews section. Is it a case then of this just not being for me? If I was to be perfectly honest, I think the problems go deeper and while I’m sure there will be a few staunch defenders of this release and band, I can hand on heart tell you that Diamond Data is the album I have enjoyed least during the entirety of 2024… so far.

Track Listing
1. On Mute
2. Monday
3. The Witch
4. Cyborg Pt.3 (Because I’m God)
5. VALLTT
6. Open The Wound
7. People In My Image
8. 1000 Threads
9. Data Diamond

Added: October 12th 2024
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Four Strokes Baron @ bandcamp
Hits: 165
Language: english

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