Planks-The darkest of gray/Solicit to fall

Southern Lord
2011

Some times if you had to too many ingredients to the mix it's gets out of control. However some one who is in control and knows what they are doing can make different ingredients work to their advantage. I think this applies to music too. Germany's Plank take advantage of their knowledge and skills here, but it's we the audience who benefit from their risk taking. This band brings out grind, death, doom, hardcore and at times hit on the post-metal sound as well. The mood is mostly dark on this album no matter what musical direction they take. The grooves are strong even though the band doesn't rely on riffs. In fact thrive very well at having a balanced attack from every instrument. With that approach don't expect to be trampled as much as you will just in for a rough, but steady ride. The album does seem a bit front heavy with most of my favorite tracks coming in the first half. After the first few tracks I was expecting it to finish great and it didn't quite live up to that. Still the Planks have some stunning ideas and they know how to keep their music interesting.