The members of These 5 Down wear their musical influences pretty plainly on their sleeves. They cop Primus riffs ("Revelation War"), 311-style grooves ("Enslaved"), and Marilyn Manson-esque vocalizations ("What's Your Kind").
But for copycats, they're pretty good. There are moments on the self-titled debut that are euphoria-inducing. The opening track, "Low," is eminently danceable, in a jump-around, bang-your-head sort of way. "Hymn" layers darkly beautiful, chimy, wet guitar sounds over grindy power-chords and chunky bass guitar before exploding into the formula screaming-and-cymbals.
Less successful are songs like "I Am the Media," full of trite scare-tactic lyrics, some of which are sung backwards (to ridiculous effect), and "Hit the Wall," which showcases solid rhythm-section work but lacks anything resembling a hook.
The album's curse and blessing is the slick production by Dez Dickerson. The clean, crisp sound makes the songs more accessible to radio, but strips away some of the hardcore credibility the band seems to want. The album cries out for a raw, live, undoctored jam - but it never comes.
All told, These 5 Down is a solid debut. It makes up what it lacks in originality with good musicianship and swagger. It's worth a listen, but it's not the most memorable album of the year.
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #83Reviewed by Doug Van PeltI just love it when a new band comes along that screams for your attention and actually deserves it -- especially when they are not on one of those cool labels that every band is supposed to be on. Most people appreciate the underdog, and a lot of people love to buck the "politically correct" vibe that even an industry or scene called "Christian" falls prey to from time to time. These Five Down…Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by Hey YouI really didn't hear too much about these guys (except for what my fellow writers have written) but I decided to try it anyway. I'm so very glad i did. What we have here (is a failure to communicate...just kidding :-)) is a mix mainly between Korn and Godsmack. The vocals are very Korny (i've gotta stop this...i'm gonna hurt myself) at times, with the dark spoken parts, then the others are like…Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by the ProjectThese 5 Down brings one of those disks that comes around every few years and completely knocks the life out of every band. People love this disk and I heard why. This is such an amazing first effort for a very young band it's scary. This self-titled debut is a killer album. I popped it in and could not believe what exactly I was hearing but I loved it. This is one of my absolute need to have and…Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by GrindboySometimes when I hear an album is really above par for a genre, I take a chance on it. I dig an occasional Sevendust or White Zombie tune, and I've become a big Project 86 fan, so I gave These 5 Down a shot. I don't know if it's because this isn't good or if I just don't like the style much, but I'm not going to be spinning this one much at all. What this makes me think of the most is hearing oh,…Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by SORGThe first thing one will notice when listening to this new aggro-metal band is the obvious influence from and similarities to the secular band Coal Chamber. These 5 Down have achieved that intense emotional hardcore sound like Coal Chamber only T5D do it even better!! I myself am a big fan of Coal Chamber so when I say "this IS better" you are getting an honest and unbiased answer. This cd proves…
