Blossoming Decay

Noisem is a young band from Baltimore that plays a blend of thrash metal, hardcore, and grindcore. Thus, it shouldn't be a surprise that their sophomore effort "Blossoming Decay" can be summarized as twenty-four minutes of screamed vocals, punishing riffs, and blast beats. That's not to say that Noisem is by any means a generic band. When examined carefully, it becomes apparent that Noisem is much more than a group of misfit teenagers using old school metal as an outlet to express their youthful aggression.

The record begins with the song "Trail Of Perturbation" which opens with a dissonant chord played on either a guitar or a cello. The specific instrument isn't really important, but whatever it is, it ominously rings for about a little under a minute, creating a dark atmosphere that accurately sets the tone for the sonic assault to come. Predictably, the band breaks out into a riff at around the forty-five second mark. What sets this riff and most other guitar work on this record apart from the music of Noisem's contemporaries is the rhythm. For example, the riff I was referring to in "Trail Of Perturbation" begins with a triplet pattern and then abruptly collapses into sixteenth notes, creating an unsettling yet catchy stop and start feel to the song. Next, the vocals come in. Tyler Carnes' voice is really quite unique. Rather than angry and burly like many grind singers, Tyler's vocals sound pained, weakened, and hopeless. It's as if every lyric on the album was delivered after he had been brutally tortured and he was yelling his last words before being murdered. This style fits especially well with the lyrics on this LP which explore topics such as suicidal thoughts, social anxiety, abuse, and parental abandonment, all of which had been experienced by Tyler and his brother, Billy, who plays guitar on this album. The lyrics as well are very poetic, calling Converge to mind at various points.

The rest of the songs follow in a similar vein. There are some curveballs here and there, such as the higher screeches on "Replant And Repress" and the low-fi ambient outro and intro that links the songs "Hostile End - Hollow Life" and "Cascade Of Scars". Beyond that though, this album is pretty predictable from start to finish. While this doesn't detract from the excitement, emotion, and energy that this album delivers, I can't help but feel like that's largely because the album is only twenty-four minutes. If the record were any longer, I don't think it would hold my attention or interest considering the narrow sonic pallet that Noisem showcases though out this record. Additionally, if there's one area Noisem can improve in, it's song structure. Many of these songs seem to blend together throughout the albums playing time, which is cool, but it makes it very difficult for these songs to have their own identities as songs as opposed to a collective identity they all make up by being on this record. I feel as if I could rearrange every track between the opening and closing songs on this album and it wouldn't make a difference. If Noisem ever wants to write albums longer than twenty-four minutes, they're gonna have to work on their song-writing abilities and the expansion of their sonic portfolio. However, I don't doubt that they will. Overall this is a really strong release, especially considering how young this band is. I expect nothing but great things from these guys in the future.