Band:	The Handshake Murders
Album:	Usurper
Style:	Metalcore
Release date:	2007
A review by:	Herzebeth

01. Dissector
02. Bloodline
03. Painted Contortionist
04. Messenger
05. Error
06. Mind Bender
07. How To Kill
08. The New Human
09. Apostate
10. Myopia
11. Of Cult And Atrophy

I'm not sure what the hell happened to me, maybe I've received so many Metalcore albums that I began to "not hate" the genre. Whatever, my point is that I kinda liked this album.

This band is quite simplistic actually; in fact, their music could be easily catalogued as Nu-Metal minus Rap and clean vocals, so what's left from the equation? A decent band with super-catchy riffs, kindergarten songwriting and really easy going music...oh yeah one more thing, The Handshake Murders also has Meshuggah written in the back of their heads; seriously, some of this songs are totally similar to the aforementioned band but without the "edgy" feeling. So there you go, that's how The Handshake Murders sounds like.

So why did I kinda like this? One thing is for sure, the album is really entertaining; I'm not saying I'll be hearing it on a regular basis though, but the first couple of listens were partially cool. The music is generic indeed, but it's freakingly catchy, in fact the riffs inside this album are perfect for your morning "air-guitar" practices, surely you won't receive a lethal injection of technical music with a dose of hyperactive songwriting and a slice of spastic execution, but you'll spend 30 minutes of your life swinging your arm through the air while your other arm emulates fret play in a very stupid way.

Anyway, this album would be a perfect start for the metalcore newbies, it's simple, it's incredibly eatable and it sounds a lot like Meshuggah, on the other hand, Metal experts will feel much better if they look up and spit a major booger just to see if it hits the ground or their forehead...anyway where was I? oh yeah, this album approved, barely actually, but it approved none the less.

Best Tracks: "Dissector", "A New Enemy"