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The Gauntlet: Figure Of Merit |
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Figure Of Merit Album Review
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Tracklist
1. Aorta
2. Parts Broken and Juxtaposed
3. Arrow to the Sun
4. Blackhammer
5. This Will Not Save You Anymore
6. Overhead Projector
7. Vatic
8. Grace at Arms Length
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Disjointed, mechanical sounds in marriage with doom-soaked riffage and minimalist sandpaper screaming give tracks like 'Aorta' a cold, foreboding appeal. Discovering the fire which fuels the musical souls of Figure Of Merit takes a bit of peering beyond the surface, peeling back grungy layers of fuzz and dissonance to reveal a solid metal core which remains intact even if tracks such as 'Blackhammer' meltdown completely with the focus being on the flow of lava put forth, not necessarily the source of the deluge. Tripping in betwixt the same sludgy heavenly bodies as YOB, Figure Of Merit pull a bit more of a doomier vibe up from the noise. Although no one will accuse songs like 'Parts Broken And Juxtaposed' of being overtly complex from a technical standpoint, these tracks rock hard regardless, pulling the listener deeply into a lurching vortex of swirling emotion. Chaos swirls around 'This Will Not Save You Anymore' as Vatic dig deeply into the meat of the matter, extracting a sound which is harshly plodding, but not overbearingly so. A strong mix highlights the lucid guitar melodies and well it should. This is one instance in which you will find that the packaging by no means does the record justice, leaving listeners to figure out for themselves that this is nothing short of a mountain of spacey doom ready to obliterate the senses.
Review by: Erin Fox
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