Since By Man
A Love Hate Relationship
Revelation
Listen to enough “modern metal” – or what passes for hardcore these days – and one tends to get a little depressed. Everything runs together, nothing sounds unique. Everything is boring and uninspired. We’ve done this before, I think. Fortunately, at least for me, Since By Man are an anomaly in the current hard rock scene; they defy classification in a way that defies classification. They’re loud, they’re abrasive, they’re talented and obnoxious. Most of all, they’re anxious to experiment and unafraid to shatter conventions.
A Love Hate Relationship seems a little sloppy at first, but it’s a messy freeway accident cocktail of electronic beeps and blips, snotty punk attitude and technical metal precision that’s difficult to hate. The closest comparison is probably a more metalhead-friendly, modern version of Refused. Like the legacy those guys left behind, Since By Man have a knack for pulling a startling, unconscious melody out of utter chaos. But then they can also build a massive wall of sound with guitars and powerful drumming that will appeal to fans of Botch or even Isis.
All four tracks on this EP are bursting with Ephedrine and Red Bull-fueled madness, but the show really starts with “Godamnit Baby This Is Soul” and bleeds into the final track, “Who Would I Be Without My Middle Finger.” An irritating, pre-adolescent title maybe, but it’s more than made up for by the deliciously spastic mixture that the guys serve up here. They close out the album with the cocky, repetitious chant: “Right now is our time, Right now the rest can all die in rhyme.” These bastards rock, and they know it.
Since By Man: http://www.sincebyman.com
