Third Ion
13/8Bit
Glasstone Records
2015
Wanna talk about f#cked up? Third Ion which feature former members of The Devin Townsend band, are having a nerdgasm on their debut, which opens with a title track, written entirely in the 13/8 time signature. Which is odd as meters come. The band intends to also release 8-Bit musical renditions of every song, to pay homage to their 1980s classic gaming inspirations. Go figure... so what this is basically is some ultra-nerdy, ultra-technical and prog rock/metal. What really makes them stand out, with all the time signatures being, “whatever” is the fact that the singing style is non aggressive at all, in stark contrast with the heavy musical direction and sound. That oddity makes things feel quite unique.
On the other hand some may call this pretentious. I’d say that while I can’t but marvel, awe-struck and all, at the musical abilities of the band, I do find their style a bit overbearing especially since the soft, pop styled vocals are as odd as the musical meters, without being “bad”. Thankfully, from “Collapse”, onwards, they seem to be a bit more in unison with the music, thus, making the album a bit less “mind boggling”. Also you need to check out the mind-F##k that the epic close “Van Halien” is.
Avantgarde? Maybe. Well if you like computer games, math and you hate 4/4 you might just have found your new “poison”. I’m off to try and find my old dial-up modem and try to make that mofo- sing! Skillrex seems to be raking in cash doing sumephing, like dat!
On the other hand some may call this pretentious. I’d say that while I can’t but marvel, awe-struck and all, at the musical abilities of the band, I do find their style a bit overbearing especially since the soft, pop styled vocals are as odd as the musical meters, without being “bad”. Thankfully, from “Collapse”, onwards, they seem to be a bit more in unison with the music, thus, making the album a bit less “mind boggling”. Also you need to check out the mind-F##k that the epic close “Van Halien” is.
Avantgarde? Maybe. Well if you like computer games, math and you hate 4/4 you might just have found your new “poison”. I’m off to try and find my old dial-up modem and try to make that mofo- sing! Skillrex seems to be raking in cash doing sumephing, like dat!