ICO: THE ITALIAN DEP

File this one under “Bands I meant to write about in 2009 but didn’t get to.”

So. Italy’s Incoming Cerebral Overdrive. Yes, the name is completely ridiculous. But, then, so is the music.

“The Italian Dillinger Escape Plan” really is the easiest way to describe ICO, and it’s not an inaccurate tag. But, despite what their name would suggest, ICO’s music is actually slightly less schizophrenic and slightly more linear than DEP. People who think that “43% Burnt” is just noise but that “Unretrofied” is too purdy may find themselves satisfied by ICO; “Magic,” for example, is more artful hardcore than mathcore, like a synthier Buried Inside, “There” was surely influenced by Tool as it was anything else, and “Sound” is basically a punk song that just happens to have thick guitars and an abundance of drum rolls.

Then again, it’s hard to ignore swirling, dissonant insanity that powers tracks like “Oygen,” “Controversial” and “Science.” ICO may be less interested in impressing you with their musical ability than DEP are, but they share that band’s desire to pierce your ears with laser shots of screech. “Reflections,” the album’s first and best song, is fuled by a riff that has a kind of fragile, mushy stringiness to it, conjuring images of limp spaghetti noodles suddenly being shocked with electricity. Maybe Incoming Cerebral Overdrive is an apt name after all.

Samuele Storai’s vocals occasionally dip into black and death metal territory, which gives them some nice variance. And the album is short – roughly thirty-three minutes – so it never wears out its welcome. One second, you’re rocking, the next, it’s over.

(three out of five horns)

-AR