Overflowing with technically ferocious chops and mind-bending genre mash-ups, Moon Tooth's debut album is neither easy to digest nor describe. A perplexing musical beast, the 12-song collection is riddled with hairpin changes and a constant rotation of styles. Using progressive rock and metal as a canvas, each song is then infused with a different musical flavour: "Little Witch" gets the pop-punk treatment, for example, while "White Stag" takes a soulful left turn into dream pop territory. "Vesuvius II" features screamed vocals over passages of metalcore and doom, while "Queen Wolf" gets a brief calypso injection. And that's just the beginning. Exhausted yet?
Luckily, this schizophrenic style helps to cement Moon Tooth as a band of musicians' musicians. They have real talent, and a lot to offer where technical playing and creative songwriting are concerned. While frontman John Carbone certainly proves his own musical dexterity, his Incubus-esque vocal style unfortunately does very little for the aggressive and multilayered nature of the instrumentals. Like discovering a stranger's hair on your filet mignon, it's a bit much to stomach all the way through.
It's a shame, really. Chromaparagon is an otherwise worthwhile introduction to a band that's obviously bursting with ideas. Maybe just keep down to one or two per song next time, eh guys?
(Independent)Luckily, this schizophrenic style helps to cement Moon Tooth as a band of musicians' musicians. They have real talent, and a lot to offer where technical playing and creative songwriting are concerned. While frontman John Carbone certainly proves his own musical dexterity, his Incubus-esque vocal style unfortunately does very little for the aggressive and multilayered nature of the instrumentals. Like discovering a stranger's hair on your filet mignon, it's a bit much to stomach all the way through.
It's a shame, really. Chromaparagon is an otherwise worthwhile introduction to a band that's obviously bursting with ideas. Maybe just keep down to one or two per song next time, eh guys?