Dripback - Failed Futures review
| Band: | Dripback |
| Album: | Failed Futures |
| Style: | Death metal, Hardcore |
| Release date: | January 20, 2014 |
| Guest review by: | Ilham |
01. Wasted
02. Rest With The Dead
03. We Precede The End
04. Cessation Of Suffering
05. Profit Driven War
06. Shallow Lives
07. Seeing Without Eyes
08. Failed Futures
09. Victims
10. Stranglehold
11. Forgotten Code
12. Embodying Emptiness
13. Requisite For Refinement
Had a rough morning? Stop complaining love, the first thing I heard after waking up was someone calling me a "c*nt". I should have known better than playing Dripback's début on jumping out of bed, because that's how they greet you after the first few seconds. So yes, Dripback are from "Landan", and they intend to make it clear by introducing each song with a movie sample featuring a cockney-accented gangster, aligning threats and derogatory terms referring to a woman's "non-non parts" like the beads on Sasha Grey's favourite toy.
By now it must be quite clear to you. Failed Futures is an "in your face" kind of album. No subtlety, no cute moments, no foreplay. Dripback plays a hardcore-infused death metal that doesn't embarrass itself with technicality or anything that could get in the way of their aggression.
Sounds exciting doesn't it? It surely is. Dripback take their inspiration from the Swedish death metal scene, like Entombed and Black Breath (I know, Black Breath are American) as they don't hesitate to say themselves. If you listen to "We Precede The End" for instance, you'll also be able to hear a very clear new-era Hypocrisy influence, which you could even call an homage.
Yet, that's the problem. You're so happily reminded of the fun times you had listening to the aforementioned bands that you could be tempted to press "stop". After listening to it those first two times, and maybe a third if you were not paying attention, there is nothing left for you to discover in Failed Futures. Moreover, the album lacks some kind of internal structure. There's just too much going on during those forty minutes, and the samples are the only points of reference in the album.
All in all, Failed Futures suffers from the usual début album syndrome, caused by the band's eagerness to brand the mind of the listener with a very brutal and groovy first try at a full-length. And from that perspective, unlike the album title could suggest, it is a success. The "c*nt" that I apparently am can only foresee a bright future for these "Landaners".
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 6 |
| Originality: | 6 |
| Production: | 7 |
Written by Ilham | 24.08.2014
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 16
Visited by: 29 users
| Karlabos Posts: 5769  |
(...) and they intend to make it clear by introducing each song with a movie sample featuring a cockney-accented gangster, aligning threats and derogatory terms referring to a woman's "non-non parts" like the beads on Sasha Grey's favourite toy. This sure caught my attention. I need to listen at least to the beginning of the tracks
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161  |
Written by Karlabos on 24.08.2014 at 03:21 Well. I might have exaggerated a bit. That is if you put the samples one after the other and listen to them  .
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| MechanisT Account deleted |
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by [user id=109200] on 17.09.2014 at 17:18 Well I think that's the most... subjective part of the review. Its lack of originality, and the fact it's just blast blast blast, all along without too much variation is what denied them the 0.5/1 point you would have given them. I really think 6.9 is a very good grade in general, I find it weird that on MS it's considered "average" and gets a red coloured-font. I realise my way of rating seems to be different than most people here, so I might choose not to include a global rating in future reviews. I hope I made it obvious that the album is a quite nice one though. But I'm glad we agree on the rest.
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| MechanisT Account deleted |
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by [user id=109200] on 17.09.2014 at 17:40 Oh okay, no worries, didn't take it the wrong way. And yeah, I would have loved some kind of surprise in the middle of the blastfest, even if the surprise is just as blasty as the rest. I'm sure you understand I'm not complaining about brutality in a hardcore album . But I have to thank you for introducing me to them. It's definitely a band to watch out for.Oh and thanks to you I just noticed a stupid punctuation mistake that changed the meaning of a whole sentence. I'll try to get that fixed.
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| MechanisT Account deleted |
MechanisT
Account deleted Written by Ilham on 17.09.2014 at 17:47 No biggie. :3 And... without trying to sound too sleazy or anything of that nature, I think you should do more reviews. I like the way you mix crude humor and technical info, a feature that's sadly lacking in most reviews here and one that'd be quite refreshing and welcoming to look at, read and hopefully ponder upon. :[]
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by [user id=109200] on 17.09.2014 at 17:52 Oh wow! Not sleazy at all, it's the nicest thing to hear  . I am not very confident about the amount of technical information I provide, and of course the level of English, but that's natural for a non-native English speaker. I do have a couple reviews on the way, in the -core department as well. I'll be submitting them with a little more self-assurance this time.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by deadone on 18.09.2014 at 03:12 I never said they were the "only interesting thing". I actually think they're cliché. That intro was supposed to humorous .What is very interesting is the way they mix Swedish death metal and with traditional hardcore, with a lot of energy. It's slightly too long in my opinion and it lacks a little structure. I called the samples "only points of reference" as it's how you know you moved on to another song.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by deadone on 19.09.2014 at 03:40 Not a fan of consistency?
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by deadone on 19.09.2014 at 03:40 Well if you're that fast to judge an album just by isolating a sentence from a review that still paints the album in a positive light, I understand why you never check new music out.
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Written by deadone on 19.09.2014 at 16:22 I think I've said a couple of times that this album is good, explained to you why the sample thing is not that much of a big deal, and I consider my review and my rating to be very positive. Especially for a début. I don't understand on which plane of existence anything over 65% and very close to 70% can be considered average. In my opinion it lacks replay value, but that doesn't make the first listen any less enjoyable. Plus, from what you are saying, you're ready to NOT listen to an album because it uses samples. Now I don't care if you listen to it or not, because it's your choice, and you'll probably dislike it anyway. But you're misinterpreting what I said in the review and I want to point it out  .
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
Oh gee, thanks for the analysis. Next time I'll make sure to write my reviews keeping in mind some people just focus on the negative, and I'll slap a hundred superlatives emphasizing everything the band is doing well. You'd think people could understand the general tone and take a review in its globality to understand if the reviewer is pleased with the album or not. But apparently not. I'll also make sure to give the album an 8.5 if it's average because people can surely not think outside of the MS rating system. Because wow, 6.9, that's so mega super far from 7, and that surely means the album is shit. Can we let this stupid review die now?
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| Ilham Giant robot Posts: 5161 |
If you can't understand that 7 is good for an album, and that this kind of in-your-face hardcore music doesn't need a 1000 word analysis, I don't even know why you've even read it. This is not religious exegesis. Not going to say more because you keep looking at the finger when I'm pointing at the moon. I hate repeating myself.
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