DIECAST
Internal Revolution
Century Media (2006)
by Sully Payton
With the release of DIECAST's Internal Revolution (Century Media), it has become clear that the Massachusetts metalcore scene has either run out of ideas or is about to explode thanks to a population of Hot Topic shopping, 13 year old hipsters who have no clue about the genesis of the scene. For those of us in the know, 2006 was not the greatest year for Massachusetts metal. Stalwarts like Killswitch Engage and All That Remains released records that didn't come close to matching expectations. Shadows Fall put out a contract-releasing odds and sods CD for Century Media while they recorded their Atlantic Records debut. The long-awaited return of Overcast is still months from fruition. Unearth provided the only ray of hope with their stunning In The Eyes of Fire. And then there's DIECAST.
DIECAST have been kicking around the Massachusetts metal scene since the mid-90's, laying down a good firm hardcore beatdown. Their sound has evolved over the years to expand beyond the confines of hardcore, but Internal Revolution has apparently expanded the DIECAST's sound to the point where they are now Killswitch-lite. Songs like "Fade Away" and "Hourglass" have that classic KSE song structure- heavy, harmonic, heavy. But both sound like they are trying to be "Rose of Sharyn, Pt. II" to enjoy airplay on FUSE. Vocalist Paul Stoddard has clearly undergone some vocal coaching to come close to Howard Jones' singing abilities. When they aren't copying KSE outright, their desire to bring melody to some of the heavier songs ends up taking the power away from them. "Weakness" starts off as a beast of thrash song, with guitarists Jonathan Kita and Kirk Kolaitis creating a frenzy of crunchy riffs. Unfortunately, by mid-song, a pit monster of a song is reduced to a radio friendly snooze fest. The listener wants to be pummeled for 4 minutes by songs like "Never Forget" and "Out of Reach", but just when the violence is about to peak, the band smoothes things out with clean singing and choruses. There's nothing wrong with decent singing and clean deliveries on a metal record, just don't make it so damn predictable.
In the end, Internal Revolution is nothing more than paint-by-numbers metalcore, predictable to the point of frustration as the album wears on. The aforementioned Hot Topic cool 13 year old won't know the difference and will eat this up. Those of us long past the age of 13, and with a sense of history, should just take a pass on this, unless painting by numbers is your kind of thing.
editor's note - "Fade Away" was nominated for a 2006 badtastemusic.com award for Song of the Year
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