3
| The End Is Begun
Metalblade
Records | by M.R. Smith
...The CD maintains gravity with the next two songs, with the Queen-like
guitar gestures of “All That Remains,” and the double-bass
hardcore workout “My Divided Falling,” then begins to
expose its pop underbelly more towards the middle of the record.
“Live Entertainment,” with its repeated chord structure
and snarky chorus hook (“watch you step out of line girl,
and it’s live entertainment”) feels like the sleeper
hit. The album then gradually ramps up to “These Iron Bones”
with its insistent triplets (those 3’s again,) and its creepy
breakdown falsetto: “We’re gonna get you, no matter
where you turn.” “The Last Day” builds to almost
epic grandiosity, unexpectedly breaking down in the coda to a peace
raga with handdrums. Goodbye cruel world; pass the bongos.
3
mixes Mack truck power with jackhammer precision in their live shows,
and like most worthwhile bands, need to be experienced in person.
Sometimes, however, 3 feels like two bands in one: one going for
the Mars Volta/System Of A Down neo-prog-hardcore sound, and one
from an almost pure pop place, where the Beatles and Stevie Wonder
co-exist. Part of that is the incongruity of Eppard’s R&B-inuenced
tenor and unabashed falsetto being juxtaposed over more dangerously
intended power riffs and lyric themes (blood, power, ghosts.) But
that combo plate might just be what makes 3 get over the top of
the heap, and more power to ‘em.
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