Spider Rockets - Ever After
Screaming Ferret Wreckords - 1458-20004-2 - 10/31/06
By Brandon Strader
Spider Rockets has a genuinely odd sound. They're basically a (hard?) rock band with a female vocalist and some backing male vocals, yet they sound pretty different. First off, they didn't seem to use auto-tune on the vocals, which is great and gives them a natural, human-like sound. They used a lot of that reversed-reverb effect to make the vocals fade in strangely on "Too Far" like most prog bands use for 'ghost voices'. The vocals are also at a higher presence, or volume, than the music which makes it sound very open. There's a lot of vacant space in the center occupied mainly by the vocals and the very smooth bass guitar tone. "Simple" has a sound that is much simpler than the opening track, perhaps it has something to do with the track title.. There is a very spazzy solo near the end of the song that is pretty wicked, and overall the song is pretty catchy but repetitive. The guitars are mixed pretty low for some reason which may contribute to the illusion that the vocals are mixed quite loud. The bass guitar sits comfortably underneath the guitars, but the percussion seems to be a volume that is more even with the vocals. With "Too Far", the band almost sounded like a goth rock band, yet over the following few tracks, they seem to become more and more commercial sounding with the funky "Hate", catchy radio-worthy "Simple", and even a southern-rock influenced tune, "Something More".
The songwriting stays pretty consistent throughout the album, and it does seem to branch into some experimental territories with some sections that some would say are "risky", yet it is these moments that may possibly make up some of the most enjoyable sections. "Facing Fear" has a verse that sounds like it was influenced by
Iron Maiden, and was slowed down quite a bit, and the chorus sounds like it may have been influenced by
Metallica, and the following section with the vocals that are layered several times just sounds downright weird, and awesome, at the same time. "Reasons For Deceit" is what you would call a 'desert theme' in the style of
Spider Rockets, I guess. It's got a very desolate sounding clean guitar performance for a while that eventually leads into a somewhat slow-paced tremolo chorus. This track is genuinely enjoyable simply for the atmosphere, and psychedelic vocal effects! The vocalist sings some pretty high, held-out notes that displays the strong set of pipes she must have! "What I Want" is a pretty annoying song, but it is also the shortest one on the album clocking in at a mere 2:30. The vocalist repeats a line over and over in a kind of shouting vocal style that is sort of like a chant. There's also a nice percussion performance that sounds a bit tribal with nice use of the toms.
"Helter Skelter" is a
Beatles cover, I think. Never really cared too much for the
Beatles, but the performances are pretty great on this song and they've even got a Kazoo player in there... Either that or it's a very buzzy-sounding saxophone, it's hard to tell. The male vocals also make another appearance for the second time and the fellow has an English accent - something I didn't really notice before. I don't know how true it is to the original, but it definitely rocks pretty nicely. You should at least check out
Ever After just to hear their version of "Helter Skelter". Overall, this CD is pretty strange yet it will probably appeal to a lot of folks; fans of hard rock, metal, and who knows who else? It's not all that bad, though it could have been much better with a more consistent mix with more volume on the guitars, and vocals that sat more inside the music rather than sitting on top of it!
6.5/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Spider Rockets Website
Official Screaming Ferret Wreckords Website
