This style of rock/metal seems to attract it’s share of fresh talent; I’m sure just about every university town in the UK has at least three bands attempting to do something like this. That is probably because it’s fairly accessible to metal, rock and indie crowds being just heavy enough to warrant a review on these pages. However, not all bands can pull it off quite as well as these Luton lads. First up, they are all highly competent musicians. While any fretboard gymnastics and odd time signatures are left at the door, they are tight and clearly focussed on creating strong, memorable hooks and anthemic choruses…which is what we all want sometimes.
Musically this borrows bits and pieces from a variety of influences; ‘Visceral’ has an amazing energy and vigour, while the chorus yells of ‘is this what you’ve become?’ bring to mind Linkin Park – which is no bad thing – we may all deny it but some of their tunes were damn catchy and when you see what is de rigueur on Scuzz these days you soon realise nu-metal wasn’t all that bad! There is an ethereal quality to the guitars in places really adding an atmospheric edge. The verse to ‘Isolation Dawn’ is rather melancholic yet things pick up with a bouncy chorus. ‘The Butterfly Effect’ gets off to a grungy start and I like the circular repetition of the guitar.
‘Animal Factory’ itself mixes in some brutal breakdowns amid haunting, sweeping melodies. In places you can feel there is a metalcore influence, although this isn’t too much and the grunting is kept to the occasional backing vocal favouring instead a clean croon. Vocalist Miller really knows how to carry a tune and there is quite a rich quality to his vocal delivery. It is on ‘Keep Your Halo’ that he really shines and I am drawn to think of the cleaner tones of Howard Jones of KsE. This is my favourite track on the album, beginning with a crunchy barrage of drums and heavy riffs rising up into a massive, anthemic chorus.
This is a highly promising debut album. Imicus have a great energy about them, and know how to create a memorable tune. There’s plenty of melody (which is a good thing in an age of 1001 boring brutal deathcore bands) and it sounds up to date. There is room for improvement, which I’m sure will come with time. There’s room in the rock/metal mainstream for a band like this!
http://www.myspace.com/imicus
