WHAT DO WE THINK OF TANGENTS?

Derek Kerswill is the current drummer for the mighty Unearth, and has also worked with Kingdom of Sorrow, Seemless, Icepick, and, uh, Stryper. So I was curious to hear Tangents, his new, non-metal side project, ’cause, well, I’m always curious to hear the non-metal talented metal dudes make — it always feels like it gives me some deeper insight into where they’re coming from, for lack of a better term.

Well, Noisecreep is now streaming a new Tangents track, “The Pieces Fall,” and while I’m digging the music, which is as catchy as anything you’d get from making out with Tommy Lee, Dave Witham’s vocals just don’t do it for me. I don’t think Witham is a bad singer, from a technical standpoint; which is to say, he doesn’t sound like so much of the autotuned crap I hear these days. They’re just a little too thin. It’s kinda like how when I was a kid, I’d go to the movies and see dudes like Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis, and they were man; now I go see guys like Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, and while they’re certainly talented, they all look kinda like boys, still waiting for the facial hair to come in and their voices to drop. Witham’s vocal style gives me the aural equivalent of that same feeling.

But like I said, the music is good, and I’m sure that, as always, plenty of you will disagree with my assessment. Check out Tangents’ “The Pieces Will Fall” here, and then come back and let us know what you think in the comments section. Tangents’ debut album, One Little Light Year, comes out October 26.

-AR