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SpineShank - The Height Of Callousness
SpineShank - The Height Of Callousness
Roadrunner Records - 2000
By Philip Whitehouse
You could be forgiven for never having heard of SpineShank. After all, their first album Strictly Diesel was a lacklustre affair, and the sales and criticisms the disc received reflected this. Well, forget about that. 2000 is now Year Zero for SpineShank. No more sounding like Fear Factory, no more kneeling at the altars of Chino Moreno and Jonathan Davis and co. This is The Height Of Callousness.
Right from the beginning of the album, SpineShank set out like a band with everything to prove and nothing to lose, which in many ways is the case. From blistering opening track 'Asthmatic' to set-closer 'Transparent', SpineShank deliver fast-paced, aggressive cyber-metal with tech-head pleasing electronica and drum-beats combined with hard-core metal-head pleasing guitar riffs that seem, in slicing off your head, to do so with clinical precision.
Special mention must go to superlative track 'Synthetic' - a tune so barbed with killer hooks I defy anyone to hear it and not have it stuck in their head for weeks afterwards. Also, the singer Jonny Santos must get brownie points for his multi-dimensional vocals - at one moment gravel-throated screamer, the next smooth-toned crooner. Top effort.
If you like Fear Factory, but wish their songs were a little faster and heavier, you could do a hell of a lot worse than checking out The Height Of Callousness. The band have overcome all hurdles, blasted all preconceptions of what their second album would be like, and have effectively risen pheonix-like from the ashes of Strictly Diesel. Lets hope the evolution continues to the next record.
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