METAWAR
The guitars on METAWAR sound locked to its electronic rhythms. 3TEETH make industrial metal with plenty of weight and a clear interest in accessible melodies. The music has a dark, mechanical surface, but the songs also want to stay in your head quickly. That combination produces both the record's strengths and its limitations.
PRESIDENT X uses a firm riff and an emphatic rhythm to make an immediate impact. Alexis Mincolla's voice remains identifiable within the heavy sound. His approach is less exclusively threatening, with more room for melody. That makes the song accessible without removing all the backing's force.
On TIME SLAVE, guitars and uneasy electronic sounds work well against one another. The contrast adds more tension than a straightforward heavy rhythm would provide alone. AFFLUENZA also demonstrates how important keyboards and effects are to this band. The lyrics' social anxiety finds a fitting musical setting.
Many songs do use similar tools, however. Regular rhythms and familiar guitar riffs sometimes leave little room for surprise. Mincolla's voice is not equally lively throughout either. The full production gives the album force, but also makes some details less distinct. The music occasionally becomes competent rather than genuinely threatening.
The closing version of PUMPED UP KICKS offers a stronger idea. The original song's lighter character gives way to a much more unsettling sound. It shows what a clearly different approach can achieve. METAWAR has enough good ideas and strong passages to make it worth hearing. As a whole, it stays within familiar boundaries too often. Its best tracks suggest that 3TEETH can do more than simply make those boundaries sound heavy. The more distinctive moments have a sharpness that the rest of the record could use.
