Metal Blade
1992
I heard a demo from this band back in 1990 and was slightly impressed, but definitely felt that they needed to tighten their sound considerably. The playing skill was highly evident, but the songwriting wasn't quite there. They were choppy in parts and meandered more than they probably needed to still the potential was there. I forgot about this band for a while after that. Fast forward two years and they had secured a contract with Metal Blade and their debut "Songs for insects" is released. They maintained the energy and ideas from their demo, but now they sound like a well oiled machine. This album is insane though and you kind of to accept that fact to really enjoy it. It's a very busy albums with many sounds and ideas flying around. They mix metal, punk and heavy doses of progressive rock together in an unpredictable assault. Opener "Third Eye" is a very metal song with some odd vocals and one of the more basic songs on the album, but still powerful. The title track is a nine minute frenzied romp that never lets up for a second. "Daughter Mobius" is a bouncing song that ties in acoustic parts, heavy spurts and off the wall pacing. The influences are varied here, but you can hear bits of Metallica, Faith no more, Dream Theater, Rush, ELP and other 70's prog rock bands all at various times on this album. This is a wild ride, but Thought Industry knew what they were doing and they were in control. In 1992 the musical tides were certainly changing and more traditional metal and hard rock was falling behind. It's a shame this album didn't get more notice back then because this is a brilliant album.
This is a band I need to check out. Jeff Wagner discussed them at length in his Mean Deviation book.
ReplyDeleteThe Mule-
ReplyDeleteDefinitely check them out. Be forewarned the first three albums are far more metal after that they became much more mellow. Still fantastic, beautiful and strange prog-rock, but the metal elements are gone.