RETURN TO EARTH DEMONSTRATE HOW THEY NEED TO RETURN TO WHEREVER THE HELL THEY CAME FROM ON AUTOMATA
How awesome is Chris Pennie? If the answer is not “very, very awesome,” then the question’s rhetorical. His spazzy, ADD drumming constructed the perfect backbone to one of the best heavy music albums ever made (Dillinger Escape Plan’s Calculating Infinity), as well as his subsequent work with DEP up until he joined Coheed and Cambria (some would say confusingly, others would point out that the dude, like most of us, has rent to pay, and Coheed certainly aren’t the worst band in the world). He shines at the sort of all-over-the-kit fills Mastodon’s Brann Dailor is also known for, but is keen as to when to dial it back. His talent, like performance-enhancing drugs, hypothetically has the ability to vault a good band into being a great band. However, it doesn’t necessarily do the same in making a mediocre band into a good one. The latter is best illustrated on Automata, the new album by his rock/industrial/metal/whatever collective, Return to Earth. The band’s biggest issue — the fact that it isn’t necessarily sure what it wants to be — is ultimately what keeps it from being anything great. Which is a shame, considering that there are moments when they appear to really be on to something.
Return to Earth’s main problem is its dependence on tepid, sleazy radio rock on par with Marilyn Manson. Now I’ll freely admit that I have a soft spot for Brian Warner and Co. — up through Holy Wood, anyway — but when employed by Return to Earth, it’s a reminder of the deluge of overproduced Hot Topic schlock that lead so many to Pennie’s former band for relief at the beginning of the ’00s. Vocalist Ron Scalzo’s throaty whispering and bellowing are often grating to the point of unlistenablity (though when used to stadium-sized effect, like toward the end of “Back of My Hand” and “Edge of Forever,” they’re quite effective). The good news, I suppose, would be that RtE aren’t an out-and-out mall metal band; the bad news is that they try and create a hybrid of grindy thrash, radio pabulum, and mainstream, sub-Reznor industrial. The first part, though, they actually nail pretty thoroughly.
Admittedly, it’s not fair to compare their stuttering riffs and balls-out thrashing to Pennie’s most beloved (well, around here, anyway) outfit, but the heavier portions of Automata recall it so readily. This is probably the best executed aspect of the album and subsequently the band: they’re technically capable enough to pull off the sort of intensity you’d expect. But even the most jaw-dropping parts are quickly overshadowed by the less-than-desirable portions of the album, mostly because there’s so damn much of it (twelve proper songs with three ambient intros). So while Dillinger-style freakouts sans Greg Puciato’s divisive Patton-esque crooning are kind of an awesome thing to hear, it doesn’t make up for the cringeworthy goth/almost-nu-metal elements that go alongside them. There’s a rich legacy of great musicians in mediocre-to-shitty bands. Return to Earth, unfortunately, is another part of it. Sometimes they have the right idea, but most of the time, they’re contributing to the larger problem.
(2 out of 5 horns)
-SO
