SLAVES ON DOPE
METAFOUR
BIELER/MCA

LINKS:
slavesondope.com

Lately I’ve been on a pretty heavy diet of every genre except metal, so I figured it was time to give something metallic a crack at the review section. I grabbed the first one I saw and put it in the cd player. And I played it, and played it again, and played it again, trying to formulate into words what was going through my head, until the voice of reason—in this case my 10 yr. old son—asked if I were reviewing it or “something”.
When I answered in the affirmative, he replied, ‘Mom, it’s just bad’. Out of the mouths of babes, as they say, came the plain as day words that I was trying to formulate. There’s nothing on it to distinguish it from any of the nu metal dreck that is clogging the nation’s airwaves, ears, and minds. It just sounds like an engine that’s trying to sputter to life but never quite makes it—like a slower, uninspired version of their fellow Canadians Noise Therapy minus the brilliant production of Rhys Fulber and Co. They’re aptly named, though, as they sound like they are moving through an opiate haze but just can’t quite catch up with the rest of the nu metal pack. The only time the disc gets somewhat exciting is when they stop singing and go for full-on death-style growling on the songs “Caffeine Love Affair” and “Columbian Ascot”.

----Christine Natanael