Harkonen
Shake Harder Boy
6.7
I have to admit, even though I've listened to this CD almost six times now, I'm still not really sure what to make of it. I've seen it described as hardcore, but I can't really see calling this hardcore. It seems close to heavy rock music, with some grinding elements to it. It also feels like there's some stoner-rock influence with the trippy guitars. At this point I'm torn. I'm just the whole release is odd. Just look at the title of the album: Shake Harder Boy. Or take for instance, some of the song names: "All this time I thought Your Name was Cool Dude" or "Introducing the Creeker Sneaker". I mean, what am I suppose to make of this. One part of me is saying: "This is awful, why are you still listening to this", while the other is saying "Well, maybe this isn't all that bad, just give it a little more time to sink in." Frankly I'm not sure which to go with. The music is kind of a creative mix of heavy stoner-rock, grind, and maybe some crust. It's definitely original, that's for damn sure. The guitars have a really fuzzy sound to them and the riffs are often mid-slow paced. There's nothing really exceptionally fast on here, or fast in any sense really. Some of the music is OK, but I think it's the vokills that really bother me the most about this album. It's pretty much just the lead singer shouting into the microphone. They just come across as really bland, and just plain unexciting.
As I finish this dissection, I'm still at a loss of words. The production is good, but that seems to be the only real highlight of the album. I guess you could say these guys are pretty good songwriters too, because most of the music comes across, to me, as rather intriguing. My best recommendation would be to listen before you buy. This type of music isn't usually my cup of tea so I can't really recommend it, but if you're looking for some interesting rock music, check out Harkonen.
