From A Second Story Window - Delenda
- Released: July 11, 2006
- Label: Metal Blade
- Rating:
From A Second Story Window (FASSW) are some what of an enigma to me. They hail from the Ohio / Pennsylvania border, which happens to be where I am from, and I saw them change and shift over the years. Somewhere, lost in a pile of music, is an old 2 song demo from years and years ago. I have seen them run the path that as culminated in the release of this new CD Delenda.
Generally, if a CD is already out by the time I review it I will poke around and see what others have to say, be it in a review, in forums, and so on. I noticed that several websites felt that Delenda was a masterpiece and one in particular went so far as to give the CD a 9.8. That is quite a bold statement. It is such a bold statement that I can hardly believe that we were listening to the same CD. If I had to sum up the CD in one word, that word would have to be “spastic”. Before you jump to conclusions, yes, I realize that FASSW is out to make music that is chaotic and all over the board. They are not alone in this quest, and I feel that it is a music style that can be pulled off and be interesting even to those of us that did not have ADD growing up. Labelmates The Red Chord do it very well. They have plenty of variation while having just the right amount of groove and hook to keep one interested.
Delenda rarely finds that hook. It seems just when the band does find a good hook or the song finally comes together into something really outstanding, they shift gears and change to something that is the same old same old. What I find rather odd is that the best things they do on the disc are what might as well be called interludes. The tracks “For Those Lost…” and “Ghosts Over Japan” are the two most cohesive pieces of music. The first has no words and is literally like an intermission during a play. “Ghosts Over Japan”, on the other hand, has singing, but it is 100% melodic. The melodic vocals are average, but when you consider that the singer normally belts out death metal growls, the range at least deserves a nod of accomplishment, even if the melodic sound over all is very emocore. In between those tracks is the song “The Crusher”. Of all the heavy tracks on the CD this is the one that I probably enjoy the most. The very heavy, almost atmospheric sound is well arranged and follows a common theme to deliver one of just a handful of songs that has what feels like real song structure.
At the end of the day, if you are into the ADD math-like metal with a heavy twist of death metal thrown in for good measure, FASSW certainly might be just your ticket. I personally would rather listen to The Red Chord or Between the Buried and Me but that is just my opinion. On the upside, it looks like very few of the members that were in the band early on are still around. Hopefully the morons that got arrested for punching holes in the bathroom wall at the Black Dahlia Murder show are no longer with the band. They were fucking retarded. I think that the one who did the hole-punching was actually crying when they carted him out. I do notice that the guitar player is still in the band and may even be the same kid that played with the band in the beginning when they were called Ephasia(sp?). He did not seem responsible for any of the hole-punching. If it is him, he did used to hit himself in the head with his guitar, though. Either way fellas, congrats on making it out of the Y-town scene. You have talent but I feel that the songs are too inconsistent and fail to keep me interested even though they are all over the map and constantly changing. I recommend hanging out with your labelmates The Red Chord – maybe some of their groove and hooks will wear off on you.
http://www.fromasecondstorywindow.com
Jason “CJSIXER” Wenderoth | 08/04/2006