Shizoey: Lineaments

World in Sound have gone for the gatefold sleeve and foldout poster in a big way recently and this album is a good example with its Hieronymous Bosch-like double-sided A4 which features a band picture collage on the back. This is the debut album of Austrian trio (bass, guitar, drums) Shizoey and the early indications are pretty good from the Intro track. Vocals range from rock to thrash and the singer/guitarist, Bernd Wehinger shows himself through a wide range of guitar styles from melodic and hard rock through grunge and psychedelia with occasional bluesy guitar and elements of acid rock.

The drum arrangements are imaginative and well controlled by Marcel Bell who, along with Bassist Daniel Vonbun drive the short but energetic tracks along with a number of neat twists and turns, builds, explosions and climaxes. The variety is well illustrated between the thrash-metal "Locco" and the following softer rock number "Lesson to Learn". "St Anton" has some great guitar licks with a nice hook and wah-wah effects – a frequently chosen accoutrement to the songs. The rap-like "Shizoey" doesn't do the band any favours though and its ridiculous tick-tock gait and cat and dog statements make it sound rather silly. "Black Stones", "Dead baby" and "In my dreams" are grinding grungey, screamo outings, although "Black baby" has some Nirvana and hardrock aspects to it. Either way this middle group doesn't work too well for me. Overall this middle set of four songs represent a fall away from the standard set at the start of the album.

"Flow" is a better effort whilst "Oriental Dream" has some fine development and unexpectedly introduces a thoughtful eastern motif around which the drum and bass gradually build and encapsulate leaving the eastern ethic a distant memory, finishing oddly with a flamenco guitar from Wehinger. "Empty Eyes" starts in classical style – you can almost see Hall of the Mountain Grill approaching again – but soon bursts out of its soft outer casing into a pretty good grunge/thrash metal piece not unlike one of the opening tracks, Locco. The "Outro" is a rather more hollow-echoey guitar instrumental piece which reprises one section of the gutsy "Intro".

A decent first outing from three talented guys who one expects will get better with later releases.

Track Listing
1. Intro
2. Diving for something
3. Locco
4. Lesson to learn
5. St Anton
6. Shizoey
7. Black Stones
8. Dead baby
9. In my dreams
10. Flow
11. Oriental Dream
12. Empty eyes
13. Outro

Added: August 31st 2010
Reviewer: Richard Barnes
Score:
Related Link: Band MySpace Page
Hits: 2558
Language: english

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