Area 51
Embryonic
3.8
Poor Tampa. Things just haven't been the same for you since the death metal explosion you experienced oh so long ago. Oh, but at last, there's a band to hoist the metal flag high in the air and to keep it standing. Knee deep in their UFO conspiracy theory, Area 51 is that band.
Only not really.
Take Nevermore and remove the talent and increase the irritating attitude. There's definitely sort of a byzantine or middle eastern feel to a lot of the vocal melodies, which for the most part are acceptable, but have a tendency to get a little grating. Their wanky guitar shredding parts are about as meandering and senseless as a Kerry King solo - not in a good way, either. It reminds me of a lot of guitar enthusiasts I've known who are quite gifted at their instrument, however, have no musical ear or ability to determine what goes where and when. They hit their pinnacle of inept songwriting during "Communion", which begins with a great riff but falls apart at the very end with a mess of echoing vocals and manic guitar playing. I actually like "Majestic 12" for some reason, although I can't really determine why. It's ridiculous in a...malformed Megadeth style. It's not that good, but wildly entertaining for some reason.
Embryonic is a very sophomoric album, bearing a striking resemblance to any supposed heavy metal act taken from a random high school. It doesn't really help that they cite their influences as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Tool, and System of a Down, or that on their website, in the biography of one of their members, it says one of his hobbies is "frequent personal tests of psychotropic compounds (particularly cannabinoids)". I think we've all known that guy at some point in our lives - someone who described smoking pot as "testing psychotropic compounds". I could go on, but it's probably a little tasteless of me to further criticize the band based upon their awkward webpage biographies. And maybe that's the note I should end on. Area 51 aren't that good, but are still entertaining, even if for the wrong reasons.
