Sikth
Death of a Dead Day
5.4
At the very least, Death of a Dead Day – so gloriously redundant you just gotta laugh – is difficult to pin down. Having a slew of EPs and a full-length to their name, England’s Sikth are likewise hard to classify simply because, for instance, opener “Bland Street Bloom” seems to contain a variety of influences. At times sounding similar to a watered-down Soilwork and diluted Strapping Young Lad all within the same song, which is garnished with a touch of nu-metal, makes Sikth an unpredictable animal – one I’d prefer to keep at arm’s length.
There are also some neo-thrash-like moments on Death of a Dead Day, as well as Unexpect wannabe whimsicalness. Musically speaking, however, Sikth prove a tight unit, but the songwriting suffers greatly because much of the material feels culled from the previously released work of other bands, or perhaps there’s simply too much emulation going on. Strangely, the middle portion of DoaDD settles down a bit, and sees the sextet mellow out intermittently on numbers such as “In This Light,” the horrible spoken-word interlude “Mermaid Slur” (WTF?), “When the Moment’s Gone,” and “Where Do We Fall?” The tail end isn’t too bad – aside from the rapid-fire vocals that get kind of Slipknotish – as “Another Sinking Ship” and “As the Earth Spins Round” are both decent tunes, though not loads better than anything that came before them.
On the whole, this record is too scatterbrained to warrant even a glance. There are a few nauseating moments on Death of a Dead Day, but Sikth certainly aren’t the worst band I’ve ever heard. The production and musicianship are great. The originality and songwriting skills are sorely lacking, though, which means you’ll want to steer clear of this one.
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SikthThe Trees Are Dead and Dried Out
8/19/2003