Luxt
American Beast
5.1
Luxt is a 5-piece industrial nu-metal ("aggro"?) act with quite a few albums under their belt. They seem to be gaining steam by landing on a few national tours in the past few months. First with Dog Fashion Disco, and currently with Pissing Razors. But, with nu-metal finally on the decline, bands need to expand to maintain the interest of today's rock fans. Case in point is the sudden and unexpected rise of Evanescence, with their Euro-tilt to nu-metal. Luxt may have what it takes to rise to the top, with the use of Static-X-like industrial song structures and hefty bass usage. Personally, I've fallen out of touch with the trends of today, but what I heard on American Beast is pretty decent. What first jumps out at the listener are the aggressive vocals of Anna Christine. Sounding a little bit like Gwen Stefani, she sings it with the intensity of that girl from Kittie. The technicality of the music is lacking, but the capable bass work of Crash stands out as the primary driver behind the songs. The guitars are low and fuzzy, as is typical of the industrial rock sound, and you can be sure to find strange, mechanical sound effects sprinkled throughout. Mary Megalodon is my favorite track, with gothic keys underpinning the verse sections and a fast and pummeling chorus. A strong riffy finale closes out the song, and it's a shame that they don't adopt this general sound more often. Folding is a solid song with an emotional, well-sung chorus sandwiched between those Static-X styled, pulsating guitars. The driving bassline of How Lovely turns up the heaviness, and they also add backing male vocals that are screamed like a pissed-off Chino Moreno (Deftones). One last note, if any readers have heard the album, Lash Out and tell me if you also think Christine sounds like Alanis Morrisette on the song Life is Pain. heh. My biggest gripe with American Beast lies in its lack of consistency. For every Mary Megalodon there's an uninteresting song like Infinite. There's so much good metal coming out nowadays, so I'd much rather recommend something like the new Lamb of God or Chimaira albums for a fix of American metal. And if you're in dire need of a radio rock hit, get the new Godsmack. Luxt is alright, and they have a somewhat-different sound going on, but there are better bands in the genre.
