Mathias
Self Titled
7.5
A band called Mathias is going to scare me without even cracking the wrapping. And when the first verse ends with "the fat lady sings" you know that this is either parody or insipid; possibly insipid parody. And the more I listen the more I don't know what I am supposed to do with this record. It has a very simplistic feel to the riffing and chord phrases, but it also picks up some interesting time signatures and some great old Danzig style lead work. In fact, it sort of sounds like Danzig's first couple of albums with a cut rate UK goth singer.
But should I take it seriously, or are they biting Type O? I can't make my mind up, but I really dig the music. It's produced with a sparse, Rick Rubin punchiness and clarity, and played with a simple charm, but also with deceptively subtle groove. This is not some retarded Six Feet Under hack at work. These guys are playing the metal close to the rock. And that's a huge plus in an era of bullshit throwback trad and technically impressive but often forgettable metal. It's too bad the singer hates the band and wants to destroy it. He sounds so bored and monotonous you want to just kick his teeth into the back of his skull; like old Fang, but without the cool old punk era to make it work. And it gets worse when he tries to pull an occasional blackened rasp. Fucking singers...
Bottom line... I don't fucking know. It's my job to know, but I don't. Listen after listen I go back and forth. So this review is a failure. Dammit, I want to hear this music again. I just don't want to hear this singer. What does that mean to you? Frustration at me is the best I can figure. All I can say is that if you find it easy to ignore a bad singer, you could be in luck. If not, or if you really never went for the Danzig sound you could be in a shit sandwich. That's the best I can do this time. Sorry.
