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San Francisco trio Lower Forty-Eight are one of those bands who are just incredibly hard to categorize because their sound incorporates so many styles. Taking part metal, part indie rock, but probably mostly hardcore, this rock fusion falls in somewhere between At the Drive In, Dillinger Escape Plan and Isis with a little bit of jam rock thrown in. Complex, yet structured, melodic, but heavy (well not too heavy) Apertures is the band's fourth release and is an album that covers a lot of ground.
While Lower Forty-Eight's sound on Apertures may be described as complex, there is still a smoothness about this record that makes it accessible. No doubt that the guys have a nice cohesiveness playing together and it shows. Songs like the hard rockin' "Seventh Sight," for example, have a flow to them that will transport you to their garage back home or maybe their neighborhood local venue. Lyrically though, they take on a more serious notion as the songs tend to be about personal struggle & life hardships indicating that Lower Forty-Eight are pissed off about something, and this structured noise is their way of taking it out.
Many of these songs seem to blend into each other and with no one track particularly standing out, it appears this could be one really long song rather than the ten listed tracks. There are a few occasional aggressive tendencies, however the music is not brutalizing and should not be classified as any sort of extreme metal. Guitar player/vocalist Andrew Lund uses a sort of high pitch yell to get his point across & picks things up when things get more intense. The intensity of the music also tends to vary with things picking up then calming down, over and over again. If you are a fan of diversity in your music, then you will find plenty to enjoy on Apertures. Crazy time signatures, obscure riffs and plenty of distortion are what you will find; yet the band still manages to keep things fairly melodic.
So I could try and describe what this might sound like till I am blue in the face, the essential question to ask is does it work?? While I would call the music on Apertures listener friendly it still has a tendency to be weary on the ears after awhile. Not necessarily boring but sometimes grueling, getting through these 10 songs is a workout that will test your discipline as a listener. Overall though, the benefits outweigh the pitfalls and if you can make it through this thing you will have experienced an interesting musical journey. While Apertures is certainly not conventional metal material it should appeal to the adventurous hard rock fan.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Mass Denial, Massive Guilt |
| 2. Blaue Augen |
| 3. The Distance Of Light |
| 4. Afterlie |
| 5. Desperate Signs |
| 6. Seventh Sight |
| 7. Truth From Fact |
| 8. Slay Tracks |
| 9. I Am A Rogue State |
| 10. The Ring |
: 45:45
| Buy other Lower Forty-Eight albums |
