Margin Of Error-What You Are About To Witness

Self-Release
2009



The concept was promising enough. Having a record based on the thought process of a serial killer did intrigued me. Even if it isn't anything new between the imposing album cover and the opening cut “Time to Suffer” (a forty-second track with static interference where you can hear a woman screaming in terror in the background) there was hope. The tone had been set and this concept album was off to a good start. How quickly that changed. Now their first album "Create.Destroy.Repeat." was rather good for this Cleveland, Ohio band. Margin Of Error began life as a goth rock/industrial metal act and even if they did often draw comparisons to Combichrist and Hocico they had a strong following and were off to a promising start. So, what happened between then and now? Now let me be honest and say for the record "What you are about to Witness" does have it's good moments. When they strive for it they really hit the ball out of the park. “We Are the End” starts off promising before collapsing under it's own weight. And “What you are about to Witness” features this haunting choir and has a somewhat chilling effect. That shows real thought about creating a atmospheric sense of dread and impending doom. The problem begins though on tracks like “Cut the Throat”. A perfect example of wearing yourself too thin "Cut the Throat" tries too hard to be Suicide Silence but ends up as watered down Hatebreed. While the band strives to be effective deathcore (the high screams of vocalist/songwriter Travis Meyers bare witness to that) far too often it just all blurs together. Keyboards, synthesizers, drum beats and electric guitars get buried in a poor production job. I understand that the band has adapted a DIY outlook and that could explain why the record sounds less than profession. Without the help of a record label they have had to go it alone and for that I do give them credit. The thing is there are hundreds of other Ohio bands doing the same thing with better results. If only their new sense of direction had as much conviction when it came to the actual music. For all the hype surrounding "What you are about to Witness" I was anxious to hear it. In the end though instead of being a step in the right direction the new album finds local heroes Margin Of Error wasting their talent. Here they are drowning in a sea of 2nd rate bands and they don't even see it. You want so bad to throw them a life vest and scream "enough of the Suicide Silence/Hatebreed/Ministry modern metal guys you can do so much better!". It sounds like a million other synthesizer crazy local industrial metal acts and that sense of individuality that was present on their debut album is buried under layers of generic heavy rock. I wanted to like this one since despite all of their past theatrics (such as dressing up like Marilyn Manson) here was a local band doing their own thing. With this record though they sound far too common and will unfortunately get lost in the pile of "what could have been" bands unless they change back soon.