TEXAS IS ON FIRE

And so Crash enters the metalcore sweepstakes by signing TEXAS IS ON FIRE and releasing the Denver band's first full-length, "Shine.Set.Repeat". The funny thing is that the album will probably do quite well for the label, as there still remains a large audience for this brand of scathing metalcore, even the kind featured on an album as generic as "Shine.Set.Repeat".

So of course BOTCH is listed as a primary influence, as is SOILWORK, the latter bearing absolutely no resemblance to anything heard on "Shine.Set.Repeat". So OK, all 10 tracks are aggressive as hell and not a one contains a single crooned line or sickly sweet harmony. As a matter of fact, the only other vocals heard in addition to Gavin Phieler Hansen's annoyingly one-dimensional, hoarse (and straining) vocals are death growls that appear periodically. And sure, dissonant six-string screams and sandpaper riffs abound. No one can accuse the band of verse-chorus-verse redundancy or pleasing-to-the-ear compositions. One arrangement is not necessarily a carbon copy of the next either. The rhythms are spastic and unforgiving too. Whoopie! So friggin' what? I've been through the album more times than I'd like to remember and I come away with the same ho-hum feeling every single time. And I'm not a metalcore basher, but there is just very little here that deserves a repeat listen. "Shine.Set.Repeat" is the bastard son of thousands.

So who will like this album? Metalcore fans that absolutely must own any album by any band that even remotely sounds like…oh shit…you know the damn list. 'Nuff said.