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FROM A SECOND STORY WINDOW

Delenda

Metal Blade 2006

review by Sully Payton

From A Second Story Window have been referred to as Ohio-vania "dudecore". If you immediately

leap to the conclusion that this is just more mook rock from backward baseball cap wearing frat boys, you'll be making a big mistake. Mooks and their nu-metal friends don't have the talent to make a

record like FASSW's first full length Delenda (Black-market/Metal Blade).

FASSW's members hail from both Ohio and Pennsylvania (thus the Ohio-vania). Their metal stylings are probably more closely aligned with bands like Between The Buried And Me and Converge. Anyone want to take a shot at putting those bands in a niche of music? "Dudecore" works for me. Actually, I think a better niche would be chiro-core, as in you're going to need a chiropractor to get your neck

back in line after listening to these bands.

Delenda starts off quietly, yet ominously with "Acknowledgement", a mix of bells, piano and cello.

Don't worry, this is no emo record. The neck snapping begins right after with "Soft Green Fields" thumping in with its double bass drum glory and slamming guitars. Plenty of vertebra separating time changes abound and vocalist William Jackson moves between appropriate screaming and death metal growling. "  A Piece of History Written in English" shows off the technical guitar work of Rob Hileman and Derek Vasconi. What really makes this song great is Jackson's singing (not growling or screaming) at the end of the song. This is an element of FASSW that will separate them from the rest of pack as they develop. The piano driven and plaintive "Ghosts Over Japan" drives this point home further. This interlude toward the end of the record is a well-needed respite, especially if you survived two of the best songs on the record "Oracles and Doorsteps" (the guys found a tougher than leather group of  girls to chant through it) and "The Crusher" without herniating 3 or 4 disks in your neck.

Time will tell if From A Second Story Window will one day become the standard bearers for a new "-core". If they do, Delenda will be seen as their launch pad to greatness.

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