Hallways Of The Always
A Masturbatory Aid For The Enthusiasticallly Violent
4.3
Synopsis:
Due to my obsession with the New Orleans Saints, I’m always interested in hearing bands from Louisiana. There’s just ‘something’ in the sound of that area that permeates the various form of metal they ply and makes it unmistakably ‘New Orleansian’; Crowbar, Goatwhore, Down, and Soilent Green for example. But not quite so much with Hallways of the Always, a one man project courtesy of a man by the name of David Anthony (who runs Solution 13 Productions).
Review:
The truth is if Mr. Anthony didn’t run his own label, this probably wouldn’t be on a label, as it’s not really very good. Plying assorted sludgy death/grind metal similar in style to Soilent Green but with programmed drums and lots of samples and other bizarre programming, you can’t tell if HOTA is a serious band or a joke project and comes across as a weak mix of The Berzerker meets Soilent Green with some experimental injections. A good mix on paper but not in practice.
Either way, without the odd electronica/samples (“Wet Nightmare pt 1, 2, 3” etc), the music by itself just isn’t very enthralling. The programmed drums are distracting and ill fitting for this style of metal (which should be organic and oozy), and the songs themselves, when not littered with harsh programming (“Memoirs of a Streetwalker”, “Trapped in a Dark Room”) or oddly random samples (“Secret Handshake”, “The Candy Factory”) are such a discombobulating mix of elements that the album is virtually unlistenable in large doses.
Not that I don’t admire Mr. Anthony’s efforts and desire, but his results are pretty amateurish and forgetful. Songs that don’t have any bizarre tangents such as “Crushing”, “A Small Town in Purgatory” and “The Madness” are acceptable slabs of caustic but unimaginative death/grind, but ultimately other than his off the wall lyrics and acceptable rasp/roar, Mr. Anthony simply hasn’t the ability to pen decent standalone riffs or songs.
A Mastubatory Aid for the Enthusiastically Violent is actually more a Mastubatory Aid for the Enthusiastically Talentless, as Mr. Anthony simply doesn’t have what it take to put together a decent album all by himself.
