Super Happy Story Time Land

For a band that make tongue-in-cheek death metal, Super Happy Story Time Land make very good death metal. As a group that aren't terribly bogged down with genre conventions, Super Happy Story Time have a great deal of fun just taking the piss out of the more serious side of death metal while still making dead-heavy metal. Whether it's the band's unselfconscious song titles (some of the most noticeable include "Groovicorn," "I Wanna Be a Dinosaur" and "Fishing with Dad"), throwing funk-styled wah riffs into songs or generating unhinged prog sections in otherwise straight-from-the-grave death metal tracks, Super Happy Story Time Land are talented as both heavy musicians and a band that don't take themselves too seriously. Apart from doing death metal very well, they also throw in some fantastic thrash-y riffs and virtuoso-grade soloing, demonstrating a deep respect for Slayer, Pantera and, rather oddly, Phish. This begs the question of how an act that love such a variety of different musical genres came to settle on one as their dominant style. There are clearly many influences and much talent here, so hopefully Super Happy Story Time Land's next album, which is currently in the works, will show more of the same.