Reviewed by: Cosmo Lee
Reviewed on: 2005-05-23

Posted 05/23/2005 - 10:06:28 AM by scooper:
	nice review. CC's past albums had instant appeal for me, but 'anomalies' has taken some time to settle in -- usually a sign that it has strong legs.
Posted 05/23/2005 - 02:28:36 PM by bebopkid:
	maybe i can't handle metal because of the "man screams", seems to macho for me. thank goodness for society moving more towards androgyny?
Posted 05/23/2005 - 05:44:11 PM by cosmokane31:
	You raise a good issue - the role of gender in metal could be an entire dissertation. Why are metal shows populated by so many muscleheads? Why are metalheads often so homophobic? Is Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy the most prominent female metal musician because she sounds like a man? Or is it because of her looks? Why all that mascara in '80's hair metal (and in Hot Topic metal today)? How does sound relate to worldview - e.g., would "androgynous music" involve "softening" of sounds away from extremes? Androgyny in metal (if possible) could be much more threatening and subversive than what is passed off today as such.
Posted 05/23/2005 - 11:46:35 PM by holystoning:
	What a fine effing review. True metal's still being poked at with sticks by those outside the metal brotherhood (of which I am certainly not a member, but still). It's only a matter of time before the intersection between reviewers like yourself and grind/death/thrash bands is the rule and not the exception.
Posted 05/26/2005 - 02:26:27 PM by meatbreak:
	For the influence of androdgeny in metal, look no further than Marilyn Manson. Antichrist Superstar was very much industrial thrash with hose insidious, subversive pop hooks hidden amongst the debris. By the time Mechanical Animals came around, MM had morphed into Omega and was waltzing around with tits and a Ken crotch. The music took on a glam stomp and the thrash and distortion dissipated to reveal only the shiny, prone pop. Albeit, far more subversive - Dope Show charted at number 12 in the UK and that was in 1998 - not a whiff of Slipknot anywhere and Metal was certainly not 'cool' by any stretch of the imagination. Now Vice run reviews on Pig Destroyer and features on High On Fire. So what does all this mean? Well, androdgeny is going to soften up your sound and make you more attractive to the charts. Bebopkid - your "man screams" to me are just another instrument with the distortion on full blast - for me it's a biger range of effects than your standard concepts of 'singing'. Hadn't you noticed melody isn't high on many metallers agendas? Having said that, Converge's Jane Doe is especially caustic and reasonably melodic. I better stop now, before I contradict myself into corner I can't fight out of.