Various Artists (American Heritage/Foe/Art of Burning Water): The Combined Stupidity of Spiteful Men

There's some stuff simmering in the basement of House of Stairs, a London-based label that has unleashed this eight-song sampler on a public unsuspecting of the sickness spreading in the world beneath the world above. American Heritage, who contribute three tracks here, deliver us unto a style that melds jagged edges of metal with thought-provoking, lung-puncturing progressive precision. Their "Anti-American Girl Place" may be the track that seals the deal for this compilation (and does it early on, too), although Foe's "Myrmidon" (lasting a full decade of minutes) serves as a kind of manifesto for this new musical form that has crawled from the basement, reached across the ocean and just won't let go. Lastly, the practitioners of the lost Art of Burning Water begin their four-song tenure on this platter by asking "Who's Going To Help God When I'm Finished with Him," a track that serves as swell introduction but hardly forewarns of the depths of the insanity that ensues when the unit finally unleashes "The Well (because we are)" moments later. With many, many American bands trying to get this hardcore-cum-progressive thing down, it's nice to hear it done spot on for once. If these bands are any real indication, then House of Stairs (and its artists) has a sweetheart of a future ahead of it. A real sweetheart. Come on then, love, let us now praise stupid and spiteful men.

Added: January 7th 2004
Reviewer: Jedd Beaudoin
Score:
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Language: english

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