CHILD BITE
Blow Off The Omens
Housecore Records
There are a lot of ways to describe the haphazard style of the Detroit rock city outfit, CHILD BITE, led by vocalist Shawn Knight’s erratic style. Post-grunge, post-hardcore, Hipster-rock, Nu-Metal, a hint of Stoner Rock and even a bit avant-rock can give you a bit of an idea but none of those tags mean anything though if you don’t understand their reference. There still remains a bit of consistency in their music yet at the same time, it’s all shaky ground. Which can be fun of course if you’re into what I like to call “A.D.D.” music (no offense intended), where nothing is constant, there is no simplified or “textbook” approach to the music and it’s almost all spontaneous. With a multitude of EP releases, they are now going on the 5th full length release to date with BLOW OFF THE OMENS released through The Kid, Phil Anselmo’s HOUSECORE RECORDS.
In vain of bands like SYSTEM OF A DOWN that people gravitated towards because of their (at the time) off-the-wall take on music, or purists like MR BUNGLE, THE MARS VOLTA and THE MELVINS, to name but only a few (the latter of which King Buzzo himself contributed on CHILD BITE’s EP STRANGE WASTE from 2014), the newest by CHILD BITE is no different in their approach. A bit more edgy in that this one emphasizes a heavier side of the band, with no excess filler or tricks like in their previous releases. It’s a more straight forward approach of their “Noise Rock”.
It’s good to hear this version of the group take things to a harder level in what could be viewed as their heaviest release to date in 14 years of existence. Shane Hochstettler’s drum style is totally effective in accentuating the hard sharp turns through Jeremy Waun’s guitar riffs who does a great job molding the songs that seem to be the glue that holds things together as everyone almost goes on a tangent, especially with the help of Sean Clancy on Bass thickening up the rhythm that is but isn’t there but manages to make sense of it all.
From beginning to end, Knights throws some catchy lyrics at you. “Is this real life?” We will never know, really? “It’s time for your daily hypnosis,” he exclaims on "THE STIMULUS GORGE". Helping emphasize that “We are the ones that accept early death” and an added texture to the title track is guitarist Don Mongrain, aka “Chewy” (VOIVOD, touring guitarist with CRYPTOPSY, GORGUTS). He is 1 of only 2 tricks up the sleeve of CHILD BITE on BLOW OFF THE OMENS. The other great is that of the talented Multi-instrumentalist Bruce Lamont loaning his skills on "THE WRONG ONES BREED" and "DISPOSABLE HYSTERIA". Lamont has been experimenting with noise for a long time and the simplicity of adding saxophone to these songs expand CHILD BITE’s trippy experimental sound. "BECOME AN ANIMAL" reminds you that “I’m like you… Breathing the same air as you... I used to be important to somebody a long time ago”.
Phil Anselmo obviously saw something in these guys to host them on his label, HOUSECORE RECORDS and it shows that CHILD BITE aren’t trying to ride his name but be a name on their own and aligning themselves with great bands that fall under the Avant-Garde label in experimental Rock and Metal. Having seen these guys back in 2017 (along w/SUPERJOINT, BATTLECROSS and Aussie brothers, KING PARROT), they translate what they do from disc to stage quite well and are definitely energetic to watch.
4.0 Out Of 5.0
