Album Review: Sharptooth – Transitional Forms
Reviewed by Carl Black
Sharptooth are an Arthouse Hardcore band with a touch of Punk. The lyrical content is all very clever and multi-dimensional, talking about paradigms, diaphragms and diagrams, but when it comes down to it you can’t really hear the words anyway. Except when the songs break down before the big finish. During the first song, vocalist Lauran Kashan sounds like a drunken Rob Flynn, after he’s sacked his band and right before a circle pit starts somewhere. I do believe this is satirical as the song is called 'Say Nothing (in the absence of content)'.
The rest of the band Keith Higgins Lance, Donati, (guitars) Peter Bruno (bass) and Matt Hague (drums) play complex songs mixed with simplistic riffs that breaks down and builds to a climatic section at the end. Think Earth Crisis with As I Lay Dying with touches of Distillers. They don’t repeat any parts during songs, they build and elaborate with the tempo going back and forth several times during each song. They like a talky bit in the middle and then the part we’ve all been waiting for at the end.
Highlights on the record include the driving, chugging 'Hirudinea' that builds into a slower conclusion. And the awkward, unconventional collection of riffs that make up '153' and 'The Southern Strategy'. 'The Grey' typifies this band the most with light and darker shades that gathers pace into a massive riff at the end of the song.
This is not background music for the casual ear, this has to be sat down and listened to otherwise it will be dismissed as rudderless noise, which, it certainly is not. It’s smart, clever and contemporary. But maybe it’s a bit too smart and clever for its own good.
'Transitional Forms' is released via Pure Noise Records on July 10th
