Bean Bag
Free Signal
Reviewed by David M. Pogge
There's been a lot of buzz around the office about this new band, and I had decided that it was high time I find out why. Lucky for me, this CD ended up on my desk to be reviewed; so not only did I get to finally check them out, but now I get to tell everyone else what I think of it. There is no doubt as to what the guys in Beanbag believe, as the first thing you hear on the CD is, "Jesus will never let you go!" screamed out at full volume in a thick Australian accent. Immediately following this passionate cry, an enormous groove will take you by surprise and slap you silly with its shredding guitar riff. Since this disc is laden throughout with hardcore riffs, dangerously contagious grooves and often rap style vocals, the easiest thing to do would be to lump it into the ever-growing rapcore category and be done with it. But the truth is, this band is way too multi-faceted to be stuffed into one category. Yes, the infectious grooves and tongue-twisting rhymes of the rapcore sound are definitely present, but along with these are some mellower songs where singing replaces the screaming, as well as some poppy sounding songs that go back and forth between the hard and the soft. Diversity is definitely a strong point with this album, as no song really sounds like another. While maintaining an extensive diversity among the songs, consistency is maintained just as strongly, giving the album the balance it needs to be taken seriously. The guitar playing is superb on this record. The riffs are brilliant and the sonics are very experimental, adding to the overall fresh and diversified vibe. On the downside, the album's production is rather overdone at times and the music lacks some of the bite of its rapcore cousins. Other than these very small setbacks, this is a great debut album that displays a lot of promising potential. We should all keep our eyes on this young group as their innovative sound and fresh approach should definitely put them on the map.