TWO NEW SUMERIANCORE BANDS THAT STINK, ONE THAT DOESN’T

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; I say imitation is the worst form of annoying. We’ve now reached the point where new Sumeriancore bands who are content to just copy the genre’s pioneers are popping out like a turd after my first cup of morning coffee. And because Sumeriancore, bedroom recording techniques and Internet dorks go together like flies and shit, it’s a real fly-infested scene in the bathroom of the MS Mansion today. Let’s see what we’ve got.

Two bands I do not like (so stop emailing us about them please, kthx):

• Structures: We’ve been getting tons of emails about these guys for at least the past six months and they’re still unsigned (but not for long ’cause they’ve recently taken on a big gun manager, look out!), which means these Canadians must’ve struck a nerve with the young Sumeriancore followers of the Webernets. They have some cool technical passages, but the problem is they rely way too heavily on deathcore breakdowns and trite Swede metalcore riffing. Their choruses and clean-singing parts seem forced and the melodies are weak. It’s like someone swept up every popular metal trend of the past 10 years and Structured a new band out of them. Kids who don’t know any better are going to love this, which is disappointing… but I guess there are way worse bands out there that kids mindlessly follow.

• Volumes: Again, there’s some level of obvious talent in the band members here — which is a trait of pretty much any Sumeriancore band — but not a single original idea. And having not visited their MySpace page in a few months, I see that the same management company working with Structures picked this band up too; it’s a like a big happy Sumeriancore cartel! Anyway, the recipe du jour chosen by these Los Angelinos is to mix Meshuggah groove with bittersweet Misery Signals choruses. And the inevitable tri-tone breakdown. Great. Why do I need this? Next.

And one that I like:

• Bleeding Skies: I know, that band name sure is cringe-worthy… but this Scottish band sure is good. It’s actually a one-man affair, or two-man depending on how involved Gareth Edwards (vocals, mixing, mastering) actually is — Darren Cruickshank handles all guitar, bass, programming, mixing and mastering duties. The mostly vocal-less demos on their MySpace page remind me of the early Soundclick instrumental demos that Misha Mansoor used to post years before Periphery really got off the ground. They’re good, not great, and there’s definitely the imitation factor here with regards to Periphery… but these guys have potential. Hey Outerloop, THIS is the band you should be working with!

-VN

Thanks: Ben Robson for the Bleeding Skies link.