MOTOGRATER
MOTOGRATER
NO NAME/ELEKTRA

LINKS:
motograter.com

Tired of thin melodies sandwiched between slabs of generic metal riffs? Sick of hip-hop tinged beats? Or what about cookie-cutter, self-deprecating aggro-lyrics? Well, No Name Records newbie Motograter is not the breath of fresh air for which you seek. They are quite good at what they do, though. With this debut, you will get beefy chunks of nu-metal riffs, punishing neo-thrash bass-lines and roaring vocals interspersed with angry, occasionally witty raps…all centered around a mysterious instrument named the Motograter.
. Fashioned out of industrial cables, various gears, a guitar and a bass, it is supposedly central to the band’s sound. I haven’t been able to identify it for the life of me. Nevertheless, Motograter delivers on this album as promised: well-arranged, straight-ahead nu-metal.
Things kick off with the track “Suffocate”. This is not easy-listening, folks. From the outset, the guitars and bass claw away at your eardrums with unrelenting ferocity…and precision. Lead vocalist Ghost’s contributions are just as impressive; it’s standard nu-metal rhyming, but you’ve got to love his brutal delivery. The hooks are the only time Motograter tone down their intensity, but even these brief moments of melody are flanked by a frenetic rhythm section that eventually bursts back into full metal fury--a solid start. “Down” is a tad more listener-friendly. A riveting guitar echo-effect intro starts things off before launching into another deep, heavy groove. What’s even better about this song is the singing. Yes. We actually get to hear Ghost sing and it’s not half-bad.
Motograter was arranged to be an emotional roller-coaster of an album. For every lighter, “happier” song, there is a song that is either pissed off or gloomy as hell. The ominous “Prophecies” falls somewhere in between. The guitar riffs are dark and huge and the drums are steady and heavy, but what makes this song are Ghost’s vocals. There is great balance between cryptic, pained verses and soaring, melodic bridges. Nicely executed. By the time we get to “New Design” it’s obvious Motograter has been heavily influenced by groups such as Sevendust, Korn and Tool. Ghost sort of sounds like Maynard James Keenan on this track, too. He blends in well with the music though.
The band takes a turn for the melodic on “New Design”, but it’s still flecked with all the brutality and anguish that is on the rest of the record, including the following track. “Get Back” is not much more than a wall of sound that pummels listeners with jackhammer riffs, pounding drums and God-awful, psychotic screaming. I still haven’t figured out the mystery that is the motograter, though. The closing track, “Fight”, in concept, was a great way of ending Motograter. It left much to be desired, though. A thunderous bass-surge marks the song’s centerpiece. Although, it adds necessary depth it drowns out the other musicians, making the song muddy and suffocating.
This is not a bad album, not a bad album at all. It’s full of thick, groovin’ riffs, harsh vocals; everything that made nu-metal fresh and vivacious…in 1998. Motograter might be able to squeeze some success out of this album, but it as nu-metal takes its last gasps, the band might be wise to change their format.

----Eric V. White