TOP CLASS NU METAL
04/24/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Nu metal is overall a pretty weak genre, however their are some exceptions, and Spineshank, mainly because of their punishing sophomore release "The Height of Callousness" are one of those exceptions. This imported version features one bonus track from the "Synthetic" single titled Full Circle. This song moves the album's length from 37 minutes in length to 40 minutes and therefore it is still a fairly short album. Nevertheless it has plenty of good material. Spineshank combine grumbling bass, with blistering techno charged drum beats, simple but effective guitar driven metal, and some impressive keyboard sequences to take a giant leap foward from the band's reasonable but much criticised debut "Strictly Diesel". The music is heavy and melodic, the songwriting very strong and the vocals display more grunt and aggression then the previous LP. The band has also developed their own signature sound and they found a quality producer in GGGarth (RATM, Kittie, MUDVAYNE). Overall the best tracks are 1,2,3,4,7,8,9,11 and the extra track Full Circle which displays a good mixture of heaviness and melody.Apparently a digi pack version with four bonus tracks and the videos to "New Disease" and "Synthetic" will be released, so if you haven't bought the album it might be worth waiting a bit longer."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1