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Life in Pictures
By the Sign of the Spyglass
2005, Clockwork Records
The first signing to the fledgling Clockwork Recordings - a co-venture between Pluto Records president Brian Cobbel and As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis - Life In Pictures come careening out of Arizona with a brand of dense, textured metal all their own. The cover art, a photo called ‘The Topographer‘, denotes exploration of the wilderness and things of that nature, and then you get the very first song, ‘All My Pirates Share The Grave‘ (kinda timely, then, that this review is written at the peak of the buzz surrounding Johnny Depp‘s seafaring exploits). All of this points to the sardonic, punk-rock attitude of the band, who invite members of Where Eagles Dare and Honour of the Wolf to participate in the festivities, namely starkly black lyrics and fiery metal.
One listen to Spyglass reveals at first what appears to be just another new-school metal band in an amazingly-oversaturated marketplace for such things, but give Life In Pictures another shot, and you get a different perspective. Technical in the sense that there are actual guitar solos here, but not overly technical in the Black Dahlia Murder sort of of way, this here record has real songs and genuine flair in an Every Time I Die sort of way. Brawny, Maiden-inspired triplets and rhythms abound, while possessed vocalist H. Clarence Hampton III(not kidding!) screams insanely throughout.
‘Eric Hilborne‘ is downright depressing, a lyrically depressing bullet in the listener‘s own head detailing how tough this life we live gets, while ‘Needle In A Haystack‘ is a last missive to an addicted loved one who‘s exhausted their extra chances. Interestingly, ‘Positive Mental Attitude‘, despite its title, is furious but bleak in tone: "Now when it comes to grace/Is that where you find your faith?/Well my grace is washed away/My declaration of refusal/This is our goodbye." ‘Sharp Sh*t‘ seems to be a rather direct rebuttal to critics, either all of us or just one of us, somewhere on this great continent, insisting that "You don‘t know sh*t/You don‘t know sh*t about us." And, of course, we have ‘Hit Me With It‘, which simply rips, a tune about jumping in the van and hitting the road - and maybe, just maybe, never returning.
This band can write songs, presumably they can play said songs in your stinky local club, and the less-than-perfect production on By The Sign of the Spyglass only adds vigour to this ride. Buckle up, hombres.
- Mike Postma
Copyright ©2006