Sea Of Tranquility



The Web Source for Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal & Jazz-Fusion
  Search   in       
Main Menu




Losa: The Perfect Moment

From Texas comes one of Metal Blade's new signings, the explosive Losa. This five-piece combines metalcore, thrash, grind, and even some progressive metal on The Perfect Moment, a CD filled with aggressive and maniacal sounds that show a band brimming with talent and potential.

Just one listen to a song like "Unsuspecting Mind" instantly brings to mind Strapping Young Lad, as the screaming vocals of Michael Hall tear the roff off while the shredding guitars of Chris Ramirez and Kory Koch lay down some heavy and furious thunder. No slouches either are the rhythm team of bassist Joshua Urista and David Hall, who display some deft jazz-fusion chops during the atmospheric interludes of this tune, which segues into the insane fury of "The Witness's Account", a song filled with heavy Slayer type guitar riffs and the blood-curdling screams of Hall. The mixing of heavy yet complex riffs (ala Mastodon) works well on songs like 'One Day, All Eyes Went Dim" and "Linear Prophecy", while the band gets atmospheric and melodic on the progressive "Church of the Pitted Vipers", a song that mixes meditative clean vocals with shrieking extreme shouts of manic intensity. The band here shows their real power, as they slow things down with some heavy doom riddled riffs and quiet introspective passages.

The Perfect Moment is an impressive debut for Losa, and it will be interesting to see how their brand of raging metal grows and matures. Fans of Strapping Young Lad, Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon, and Killswitch Engage should eat this up.


Track Listing
1) Prelude
2) The Beginning
3) Unsuspecting Mind
4) The Witness's Account
5) One Day, All Eyes Went Dim
6) From the Ashes of Infancy
7) Linear Prophecy
8) Church of Pitted Vipers
9) ...Madness (Sentiment of a Dying Man)
10) Cessation

Added: April 8th 2006
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 4390
Language: english

[ Printer Friendly Page Printer Friendly Page ]
[ Send to a Friend Send to a Friend ]

  

[ Back to the Reviews Index | Post Comment ]

» SoT Staff Roundtable Reviews:

Losa: The Perfect Moment
Posted by Murat Batmaz, SoT Staff Writer on 2006-04-08 14:46:46
My Score:

The first notes of "The Beginning" (after a brief intro track) suggest Losa plays a signature mix of metalcore with atmospheric breaks, typical screamed vocals, passages with drum and acoustic solos, and cutting guitar work. Although over eight minutes, the song goes through several movements with perfect flow and harmony, concluding with Michael Hall's soaring scream vocals.

All other songs that follow this one are shorter cuts. They focus on both complex riffs (by American metalcore standards) and angry, screamed vocals. However, there are pieces when the singer goes for overkill, as on the end of "One Day All Eyes Went Dim", which honestly sounds ridiculous. The instrumentation is a lot better though. Lots of discordant riffs permeat the piece with great drumming to boot. Similarly, "From the Ashes of Infancy" is one of the better songs, being mostly instrumental. Guitarists Chris Ramirez and Kory Koch play great riffs, mostly staccato type of stuff, and the drumming is quite varied. "Linear Prophecy" is one of the most melodic songs on the album, featuring extended guitar soloing that eventually segues into "Church of Pitted Vipers", a track with nice clean vocals (and perhaps the reason why this band gets compared to Tool though that's too much of a strech in my opinion). Very slow acoustics, murmered vocals, and shiny cymbals continue pretty much through all of its duration, until Michael Hall lets out a terrific scream and more electric riffs are brought into the mix. The atonal guitar lines on "Madness (Sentiment of a Dying Man)" are also great, save for the overdone screaming.

Mastered by Alan Douches (Dillinger Escape Plan), the album has a great sonic punch and the mixing is superb. Some people have compared Losa to other greats such as Mastodon and Strapping Young Lad, but I personally don't think Losa is similar to either band. They're just a more complex and instrumentally challenging type of metalcore band and it's these qualities that distinguish Losa from the horribly overrated Killswitch Engage and many others.



© 2004 Sea Of Tranquility
For information regarding where to send CD promos and advertising, please see our FAQ page.
If you have questions or comments, please Contact Us.
Please see our Policies Page for Site Usage, Privacy, and Copyright Policies.

All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all other content © Sea of Tranquility

SoT is Hosted by SpeedSoft.com