When initially approached with the prospect of reviewing this album I was a bit leery. A Montreal band calling them selves ‘trombone core’, named after a Shakespeare character and with a masked trombone player called ‘the hitman’ in their ranks. It all seemed to have the potential to add up to a giant pile of gimmick filled shite. However, I have to admit Bastard Sons of a Pure Breed isn’t completely terrible and has a few solid moments.
With their masked trombone player, contact lenses and black suit and tie visage, Falstaff certainly have a striking visual appeal and image, but most fans know its about the music and in the case of Falstaff what we have here is a simple but burly sort of chugging nu metal/hardcore/thrashcore that seems to have element of Slipknot, Mushroomhead,Five Finger Death Punch and Hatebreed with a trombone mixed in.
I know that on paper that mix sounds about as appealing as an asphalt enema, but to their credit Falstaff somewhat pull it off. Granted, its not brilliant and the clean vocals used here and here are pretty awful, but for the most part its actually pretty listenable. Other than the few clean moments just mentioned that surface in the more softer tracks (“Eulogy”, both versions of “My Demons”) the vocals are a gruff shout which at times actually reminded me of Wolverine Blues era LG Petrov. And musically things are kept fairly gruff also, with chugging chords and groove laden riffs wit the occasional veer into slower or faster territory. All of the songs are laced with ‘the hitman’ and his trombone, not just a smattering here and there, but a full on part of the instrumentation. It’s not too awfully gimmick and its not to distracting, its used about right adding just enough lounge jazz quirk to the metal and visual image without being over done or forced.
For the most part tracks like “The Cost”‘ (which you can see a video of here), “Ten Years in Flames”, “Fuck the Fence” and “‘Violent as Violent Can Be” and “Not Welcome” are well produced,competent, chuggy, groove laden modern metal that are certainly not terrible and if they happen to pop up on a random shuffle on my Ipod, I’ll generally let them play. And I’ll admit some of the trombone parts are actually pretty cool (i.e. “The Hounds”, “Pull the Knife”). Its certainly better than some of the Nu metal that came out a decade ago or is lingering around now .
[Visit the band's website]
Find more articles with 2011, E.Thomas, Falstaff, Review, Self-Released
Comments
Leave a Reply
Duuuuuuuuuuude………Uh, can I recommend some music to you?
Textures- Dualism
Aliases- Safer than Reality
In the Midst of Lions- Shadows
I’m telling ya man there is sooo much better music out there. You don’t have to settle for this.
I saw the video. I was laughing…….hard.
on Nov 23rd, 2011 at 17:10LOL_ i have plenty of great music to listen to- i just review what Im sent. And in the midst of lion are getting really dull- ive got the new one. The saving grave blows it away
on Nov 23rd, 2011 at 19:47Beyond Dawn did the trombonic metal way back in the early 90’s, and they still sound better than this. The integration is done well, but doesn’t add much.
on Nov 23rd, 2011 at 23:04Lol that’s cool, I was just pulling your chain. This band is terrible though, make no mistake.
Who is The Saving Grave. Is it an album, or the name of a band?
I actually haven’t heard the new In the Midst of Lions, but I thought their last album was a real step forward from their debut. No they aren’t reinventing the wheel, but I think they’re really solid. Are you doing a review for it?
on Nov 24th, 2011 at 01:10Saving Grace- the band on same label as In the midst of lions
on Nov 24th, 2011 at 12:17Ah, got it.
on Nov 24th, 2011 at 15:09As a one time trombone player I have to say that this is probably a blast to play. I like some of it, but they need to stay away from the glissando stuff because it just sounds silly. I also think it might benefit from some effects on the trombone or maybe another horn to do some harmonies. I saw Robin Eubanks play Hendrix tunes on his trombone using a big effects board and a wah wah pedal, it was awesome.
on Nov 29th, 2011 at 12:54