Welcome to the LOUDEST DOT COM ON THE PLANET!
KNAC.COM News Reviews and More Watch The Latest Videos Buy KNAC T-shirts and More


Five Pointe 0 Untitled

By Peter Atkinson, Contributor
Monday, April 8, 2002 @ 1:05 PM


(Roadrunner)

- advertisement -
Here’s a nice surprise: A band that actually brings something “nü” to the nü metal table. In fact, Chicago-area sextet Five Pointe O probably try to do too much on their debut album. And though it doesn’t always work, the approach is still preferable to recycling the same old bullshit like so many other bands are happy enough -- or lazy enough -- to do these days.

Though they start with requisite ingredients -- thick riffs, swaggering basslines, pile-driving beats and whisper-to-scream vocals that follow the music’s thrust-and-parry bluster -- Five Pointe O exclude the usual hip-hop antics and mix in, at various times, elements of death metal, hardcore and industrial/prog rock. It’s a sometimes clumsy mix - “Purity 01’s” tribal rhythms, propulsive grooves, sludgy chorus and clean/gargled vocal gymnastics never gel -- but it is different and it’s got dynamics that go well beyond the typical thud-and-thrash.

When the band keeps things relatively simple, as on the bruising opener “Double X Minus” and the frantic title track or the chunky “Syndrome Down,” they can be pretty darn formidable. Here, Eric Wood and Sharon Grzelinski’s shuddering guitarwork makes a nice contrast to Daniel Struble’s resonant vocals -- his voice is a dead ringer of Anthrax/Armored Saint frontman John Bush -- and deliver grooves that’ll cave in your chest. Even the time changes and thrashy outbursts work when kept in perspective.

But logic and restraint don’t come easy to young musicians, and Untitled is reminiscent of the first Fear Factory album where the band was full of ideas, inspiration and energy, but didn’t quite have the experience to tie it all together. Ironically, veteran grindcore producer Colin Richardson -- who helmed Soul Of A New Machine -- is behind the boards here as well. And though Richardson does a fine job of bringing clarity and power to Five Pointe O’s sound -- this is one of the cleanest sounding album’s he’s done -- he doesn’t do much to give it focus.

The slow grind death metal passages add nothing, and Wood’s throat-slashed rasping makes for an unwelcome evil twin to Struble’s predominantly clean vocals -- the guy can actually sing!-- and surprisingly spiritual lyrics. The tradeoffs only garble the message and on more dramatic, atmospheric songs like “The Infinity” or “Syndrome Down,” where keyboards play a more dominant role, the death grunting just sounds silly. And the tedious, 12-minute Pink Floyd exercise “Aspire, Inspire” does neither and easily could have been left off without being missed. Still, give Five Pointe O props for not settling for the same old, same old. Nü metal fans might not demand much in their music these days -- how else could tuneless schlubs like Drowning Pool get so huge -- but Five Pointe O give ‘em something more to digest than just the usual fat.

**1/2


Back to Top

 

 

 Recent Reviews
QUEENSRYCHE In Houston, TX With Photos!
FEED MY DAEMONS Feed My Daemons
THE END MACHINE The Quantum Phase
JUDAS PRIEST Invincible Shield
RINGWORM Seeing Through Fire
SUICIDAL ANGELS Profane Prayer
GEOFF TATE, ADRIAN VANDENBERG In Houston, TX With Photos!
MIDNIGHT Hellish Expectations
AVENGED SEVENFOLD In Cleveland, OH With Photos!
KK'S PRIEST, LA GUNS, BURNING WITCHES In Ft. Lauderdale, FL
RIOT V Mean Streets
SKELETAL REMAINS Fragments Of The Ageless
EXHORDER Defectum Omnium
LIZZY BORDEN In Los Angeles With Photos!
MEANSTREAK Blood Moon EP
ZAKK SABBATH Doomed Forever Forever Doomed
CRAZY LIXX Two Shots At Glory
CRYPTA In Los Angeles With Photos!
BRUCE DICKINSON The Mandrake Project
BORKNAGAR Fall
HONEYMOON SUITE Alive
NORTH SEA ECHOES Really Good Terrible Things
SOCIAL DISORDER Time To Rise
MINISTRY HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES
MICK MARS The Other Side Of Mars



HOME | MAGAZINE | VIDS | STORE | HELP/POLICIES

©2024 KNAC.COM. All Rights Reserved.    Link to us    Advertise with us    Privacy policy
 Latest News