Band:	Infectious Grooves
Album:	Groove Family Cyco
Style:	Alternative metal
Release date:	1994
Guest review by:	Ch'ti

01. Violent & Funky
02. Boom Boom Boom
03. Frustrated Again
04. Rules Go Out The Window
05. Groove Family Cyco
06. Die Lika Pig
07. Do What I Tell Ya!
08. Cousin Randy
09. Why?
10. Made It

What Blink-182 would sound like if they were good.

Infectious Grooves can be described as crazy, but in a good way. It sounds as though they had fun on this album, and I did too while listening to it. The riffs easily move you and carry you away into their world. The riffs are typical of alternative metal, but here Infectious Grooves brings a little extra, which clearly makes a difference. It's one of the best band names I think; they announce what their music is going to sound like.

The album is very funky, and the sometimes discordant melodies remind me from time to time of the eponymous album by Mr. Bungle. This is both a good and a bad thing, because when comparing an album with another much more famous and iconic one, you have to live up to it, and although the album manages to recreate the atmosphere of Mr. Bungle, it is far from equaling it.

Vocalist Mike Muir (known mainly for being in the band Suicidal Tendencies) is very close in style to the vocals of Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle). If Mike Muir wasn't inspired by the latter vocalist here, I don't understand anything anymore.

Now we can talk about the album's main asset, which in my opinion is the bass. In addition to being very prominent, it is incredibly funky; you can imagine the bassist's fingers dancing on the strings like us to the music. Apart from this particular atmosphere, Groove Family Cyco manages to keep the rhythm from start to finish; the album never runs out of steam and it's quite enjoyable.

However, it has its shortcomings. Personally, I find that I quickly get tired of this genre, but also this particular style; although the album holds up throughout, it has a little difficulty in keeping its sound fresh. Fortunately, it has not been drawn out in length (at the same time, albums of the genre are never very long, for this same reason in my opinion).

After all, Infectious Grooves offers us an album that changes a little without being the pioneer of the style. The experience is refreshing, not revolutionary, but the little extra that changes my appreciation of the album is really about the bass. If you want to change a little from the usual death metal or black metal, let yourself be tempted by Groove Family Cyco; the album is worth a look.