Of Monsters Under the Bed

You know as well as I, image is everything. Record your standard five minutes of shitty bedroom black metal, then market the stuff as User Joined Your Channel and voilà, you get three reviews on this very website in no time, while serious acts like Bloody Unicorn... erm, sorry. I indeed wrote, Bloody Unicorn. Guilty of bringing pink-and-white inflatable buoys on stage, of selling band shirts of dubious kawaii taste, of writing songtitles such as Of Monsters Under the Bed including such lyrics as I couldn't sleep without my little teddy bear, and of featuring a girl who can occasionally pull out growls which would put the average brutal death metal gurgler next door to shame.

Seriously though, we need more female growlers. Outside of the obvious Arch Enemy case, the species is rare. Well, there was this Shadow band in Japan, but it has long disappeared from the surface of the Earth. The girl here is nicknamed Eva, and is also responsible for the band's characteristic imagery, praised be she. She still seems to be searching for her true way. Let's admit that for a self-dubbed melodic death metal recording, that one features a lot of clean vocals – at least half of them I'd bet. As long as she's not forcing them, they remain pleasant, if a tad formulaic; however her high range, when she dares using it, tends to get irritating (e.g. the end of the title track). On Faith I have no idea of what she was trying to do – perhaps simply singing vocal lines too complex for her skill. The growled parts are by far the most interesting, but again vary in style. It goes from medium-ranged harsh vocals, Gothenburg fashion (Running Out of Time), to much deeper growls, those being found mostly on the last two tracks; whether it was deliberate artistic choice or mere inconsistency is yet unclear.

The vocals even set aside, this last sentence could actually apply to this EP as a whole, symptom of a band who was openly experimenting. For instance, it starts with a programmed symphonic intro which could have been ripped off from any second-tier Therion worship act, complete with humming soprano vocals... and unrelated to anything that follows. The acoustic break on Crushing Down is a one-off attempt as well, and so is the ample, majestic progression which concludes the work. The transitions in a same song between the faster, heavy parts and the more contemplative ones don't always run smoothly. Never mind. While a bit more polishing certainly wouldn't have harmed, the creativity's there.

The musicians overall deliver a highly energetic performance which easily makes for the sometimes irregular songwriting. The drummer especially does an impressive job, well-served by a nice organic sound. He's imaginative, and that alone should be praised. Otherwise, if solos and leads as a whole are pretty scarce, you should get your fair share of fast galloping riffs and acrobatic scales to easily compensate. Keyboards are ever-present, but not too intrusive, for the most part used to thicken a background which didn't really ask for it, the music being rich enough without. The true orchestrated parts are rare, mostly limited to the bizarre intro and the closer Forgiven. Once again, the artists seem to be regularly tinkering – straightforward melodeath, or symphonic fluff?

After all, who cares whether this band is utterly stupid or utterly cool, as long as it makes good music. Now excuse me, but I have to get that shirt. Machine-gun wielding unicorns are krieg, I tell you.

Highlights: Running Out of Time; Forgiven.