High-pitched male singer? Check. Brutal growls? Check. Random Electronic/Glitch? Check. Melodic classical parts? Also check. Originality? Nope.
We’ve all heard this album before. I often wonder why they don’t just all get female singers, it would be tons more appealing than watching effeminate, tattoo-shrouded men trounce around on stage doing their best to look as girly as possible, while maintaining only a slight resemblance to their actual gender. Not to mention, it’s far easier to find women who can sing in those registers.
This album is grating, not because of anything that they do as musicians, in fact, I’d say they do everything possible not to be grating, but when everyone is doing that it becomes a little annoying. Even a toddler could tell when these guys are going to do a breakdown, when they’re going to break into a melody or when they’re going to let vocalist Michael Jagmin loose to do some damage control on these insipid songs. They’re just too predictable.
Now for the good part; Michael Jagmin, despite having a derivative style, does have some impressive range. Hell, even Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider complimented him on his pipes, so he must have something. The production is perfect, not a speck of dirt to be found on this release, but what it gains in production it loses in personality.
I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone except the most diehard fans of the genre, anyone else is just in for headaches and disappointment.
In A Word: Annoying
