Bone Crew :"s/t"

I like trap rap more than I like Hot Topic brand metal core. I will give Attila credit for writing catchier shit that the bulk of their peers . One thing I can say about this ep is that is reminds me of Upon a Burning Body's team up with Ice-T for their cover of "Turn Down For What?". The rapping courtesy of Da Boi J is not hindered by the sense of nostalgia that haunt Ice- T trying to stay relevant.   Without question this is dangerously close to nu-metal, which is traditionally not my thing. The first song that opens the album is the lowest common denominator. Its not until the rap comes in at the verse that it really catches my attention. The screamed vocals from the Attila  front man, just sounds like everything else from that genre. "

Back it Up" has a melody to it that reminds me of "Big Pimpin". It's a much better song than the opener and all of the elements mix together much better. At times some of the more abrasive elements remind me of Death Grips. "WDGAF" or...We Don't Give a Fuck, works pretty effectively as well though there are more bone headed elements in the attitude that brings to mind Eminem's more belligerent moments. "Real Ones" seems to find this project falling into more of a formula. The more death metal vocals that pop up are not my favorite , but I understand that is the zip code we are in. Some of the shifting heavier grooves toward the end of this song work really well.

"Tunnel Vision" doesn't work of the kind of hooks that I expect from this kind of rap. I suppose the more metallic side of this takes the emphasis off of this . Not sure if it compensates as well as some of the more stellar match ups of this kind that occurred in the late 80s or early 90s when this kind of pairing first came into being with actual metal and not Areosmith. I'll give this album an 8 which is better than what I expected going into it.

Ded : "Mis-An-Thrope"

It's a crazy though that new nu-metal is being created in 2017. The first song almost makes you ready to write these guys off as wanting to be Slipknot. While this is not untrue, these guys are actually not half band and write some decent songs. Sure there are the chanted temper tantrum vocals and the rap elements on the first single "Anti-Everything" bring to mind Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit depending on where you are at in the song. It still somehow manages to work even though it is a little on the radio side of the equation so not as heavy as most of the bands we review who refer to themselves as metal. "Dead to Me' gets mired in the kinda of watered down screaming metal that nu-metal eventually defaulted to.The lyrics revert to just telling people to fuck off in various ways. Slipknot thing seems to be the more dominate motivation for the kind of music they are trying to make. Granted they don't have a bunch of extra clowns beating on things, so some of the clutter and density is not there.

The more Linkin Park like " is one of the more well written songs despite it's more pop tinged leanings when it comes to the hooks. Linkin Park always struck me as being a boy band with guitars, and this is not that blatant. "Disassociate" works better for me as the hip-hop accents and almost grunge like vocals on the chorus don''t sound just like some other band from the Hot-topic and allows me to hear who these guys actually are. "Rope" finds them trying to bring the noise to a more Slip-knot like magnitude. The sung vocals are a little more original than how we have heard them used earlier in the album though comparisons could be drawn to Breaking Benjamin.The hip hop moments work better than when they are overtly angry and angst ridden. The whole I am about to have a nervous breakdown vocal just sounds dated and silly. "Hate Me" has a more sing song chorus that sounds almost like a nursery rhyme. Then they fall back into the more pummeling Slipknot thing with the chant for you to cut them off at the knees.

"Inside" plays off all the conventions of nu-metal, but puts them together in a way that plays to their strength as a band and works well as a song where they might have fallen short on some of the other songs. "Beautiful" starts off with more of a ballad type thing going on without it being too Linkin Park, it's more like Staind or Cold. I think giving this album an 8.5 is fair. They are good at what they do , I just haven't listened to what they do in some time and take it about as seriously as I take Motley Crue.