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Joined: 03/04/2009(UTC) Posts: 1,433  Location: Seattle Thanks: 22 times
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Guitarist Stanley Vince Hi guys, Jumble Junkie Music a.k.a. Tim here with another album review for you guys, the debut EP of Aberdeen residents Junkhead, titled 'Long Dead Plastic Scene EP'. Well, putting aside the blatant Great Southern Trendkill reference, there's actually a lot of positive stuff these guys are doing, off in their own little corner of the music universe. Definitely there's some room for improvement, but I gotta say, it's years ahead of what all the generic cookie cutter deathcore bands are doing these days, and I'm actually really excited to see how these guys develop as a band. The songs really seem to breathe and have a life of their own, ranging from intensely dark, Alice In Chains reminiscent rockers ('Dead End Stare') to Join The Army-era Suicidal Tendencies ska punk ('High') and even a couple uber heavy sludge numbers ('Van Gough' & 'Smack on The Wrist').
All the components in this EP are there, the musicality, songwriting, uniqueness, Junkhead just needs to learn how to tweak their abilities to their advantage. In particular, the vocal performance was stunning, the amount of pure emotion and subtle control vocalist Luke Haley maintains in his voice, and just how damn versatile he is. Jumping from punk-ish sneering to grungy moans to even the roughest of thrash vocals around, this guy does it all, and even more importantly, knows when he's needed to add to the song, and when the music justifies itself. There isn't any really insane technique or chops coming from any of the quartet, but the emotion in their playing more than makes up for lack of skill. Guitarist Stanley Vince in particular manages to bend his tone into a fucking beastly wall of noise, the level of sophistication in his sound is simply astounding. Opening track, 'Van Gough', starts out on a shaky foot, exploding into a cascade of spazzing math metal heavily indebted to the Dillinger Escape Plan's 'Ire Works' and 'Calculating Infinity', and if anything, it really sounds like a band saying "we're outta ideas, just play what's worked for others in the past". For every bit of doubt the first 40 seconds gave me, the next 40 would reassure me tenfold. All of the sudden, everyone sounds like they're off in their own world, and it produces what I will loosely refer to as a cacophony of insanity. The track carries you off cliffs and through hurricanes, expanding out into a messy splatter of emotion. As much as I'm a fan of singer Luke Haley's screaming, his clean vocals on 'Van Gough' are to die for, like some hybrid of Mike Patton and Trent Reznor, fitting in perfectly with the more trippy, dreamy clean bits of the song. Overall, 'Van Gough' manages to showcase an incredible interplay in between the 4 members of Junkhead, and I find myself continually drawn to small details I've missed on previous listens.
'Dead End Stare' manages to draw the darkest, most intricate bits of it's predecessor and run with them. Luke Haley's vocals, taken on the altered persona of a raging heroin addict, drag the grooving, sludge/southern metal jam down into the deepest pits of the wasted mosaic of street culture. The drums, bass and guitar lock seamlessly, pushing the track from a powerful pre-Pantera rocker to a grunge/metal anthem, like coal to diamonds. Stanley Vince's guitar performance on the track is inspiring, achieving a heavy as fuck crunch without venturing out of the swamps into the land of mainstream metal. Besides contributing wrenching vocal harmonies to the more hook oriented parts, Vince also lays down a demonically hot solo, something like the hard blues motifs of Jerry Cantrell pushed through a Dimebagifier machine and ripped to pieces by the robotic precision of Alex Skolnic. The wah fueled southern jam boils down the intensity of 'Van Gough' and somewhere in the process manages to step on a 'Fan-Fucking-Tastic' effects pedal. 2 tracks down, 3 to go, I reach 'Black Days', which in many ways is like a palate reliever, a break from the insanity, allowing you to take in a little bit more sophisticated detail. The song isn't a ballad, but it sure as hell is a step in a lighter direction from the previous 2 songs. 'Black Days' begins with this real tight, crisp, chunky riff, with just a dab of distortion, more for colorful effect and texture than to give a rock edge to the song. In particular, the track reminds me a lot of 'Planet Caravan' by Black Sabbath, a relatively simplistic, uber dark and trippy, really letting the details come into focus and define it. Subtle layering of technique, control and tones creates valleys of Middle Eastern sounding anthemic textures. Drummer Will Sullivan takes the lead on this track, injecting both a rock edge and the necessary subtleties that keep 'Black Days' progressing, without drowning out the more melodic features. It's always a pleasure to see a band with enough confidence to go from a spastic mosher like 'Van Gough' to melody centric Soundgarden influenced pieces like 'Black Days'.
Past the halfway point, 'High' kicks in with a reggae intro drowned in reverb and delay, not too far off from the legendary 'Another Brick In The Wall' by Pink Floyd. It is a bit of a disappointing and predictable lead in, but, thank god, an upbeat ska punk riff kicks in, Luke Haley half hectically rapping half singing the fast paced lyrics, slowing as the verse progresses, leaving me with a feeling of slowing down. This manipulation of speed works well to their advantage when the band kicks into a thrashing D.R.I. chorus, injected with funk guitar and loose, smooth distortion, because I for one am taken by total surprise by the shift. What shines most in this track is the pure energy and perfectly sloppy execution. It's both a song you can split a joint over or shoot up to, capturing this fantastic frenzy, without making the song too cliche or fake. 'High' finishes on a slightly week note, dipping back into a congo themed version of the intro, definitely not the highlight I would've hoped these guys would capitalize on, but whatever.
'Smack on The Wrist'..... this is what needs to be happening more often nowadays. Might as well be called 'Punched in The Face', if that doesn't sum up the song for you, I don't know what will. The song oozes with southern jams straight from the swamps of Louisiana, looming over everything else with a massive crushing presence. 'Smack....' chugs and churns with uncompromising brutality, relying on textures and emotion to fuel the song as opposed to dozens of super technical 'As I Lay Through All That Remains' riffs. The production is spot on, bringing put the Cajun voodoo possessed heroin fueled beast living in the pits of Luke Haley's lungs, sometimes legitimately sounding more like an animal than a man. In addition, out of all the work guitarist Stanley Vince has laid down, 'Smack...' is definitely his pinnacle, ripping out a vicious solo in the vein of both ZZ Top and Randy Rhoads that proves the point that you don't need to shred to fucking dominate at metal guitar. In the best way possible, this song honestly is something I could see being a leftover from the writing sessions for Pantera's 'The Great Southern Trendkill'.
In conclusion, Junkhead has managed to capture 5 very different, strong ways of attacking their music style, and all they really need to do is learn how blend the different themes more creatively, so there's less of a jarring contrast track to track. I'm actually looking forward to what this Seattle band has to offer, looks like they could have great potential. 8.5 Pantera lyric rip-offs outta 10.
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