Gizmachi - The Imbuing  By Mark Hensch

Gizmachi - The Imbuing 
Label: Big Orange Clown Records
Rating: 

Sometimes in the music world bumping into a random person at a show can change your life and your career; Newburgh, New York's Gizmachi are a prime example of a band that had just that kind of luck.

A "raw" hardcore-influenced rock act, Gizmachi formed in 1999 and spent many years homing their craft in basement shows and the houses of friends. Such willing comradery to peddle their music led to frontman Sean Kane striking up talk with M. Shawn Crahan, better known as "Clown" or "#6" of Slipknot fame. A few years later "Clown" decided to give a test session for Gizmachi; the quintet apparently blew him away, earned a record deal, and recorded (in whirlwind fashion) their first full-length album, The Imbuing.

So what exactly about Gizmachi totally blew Clown's mind? After countless spins (and even seeing them live with Shadows Fall recently, perhaps the reason I signed on for this review) I can't honestly say. What is recorded on this disc is basically an often awkward mix of hardcore and radio-rock peddled with a whole lot of all the cliches inherent in good old nu-metal. Gizmachi very well could be "the heaviest band on modern rock radio," and their hardcore influences (weighed almost evenly with clean vocals and catchy hooks and melodies) will make them sound to (at least if I know my regular rock radio kids right) the most extreme band since Slipknot themselves, and let's face it; no self-respecting metalhead or hardcore kid would honestly let Slipknot (or any of their personal protégés) into a top-ten list. Clown apparently saw something, as he formed Big Orange Clown Records, an imprint of Sanctuary, and proceeded to make Gizmachi the first signee to the label. Gizmachi are henceforth carrying the economic success (or failure) of a newborn record label, the producing reputation of Clown from Slipknot, (a multi-platinum selling band mind you), not to mention the very survival of the Gizmachi spirit itself. Do they succeed despite these weights?

Sadly I'd have to say no. The Imbuing is bloated and largely unremarkable "slightly metalcore" in an era when underground rock is practically drowning in metalcore bands. Opening track (and single) "The Answer" sways in with clean group vocals, and chugging guitar riffs which lead in to Sean Kane's searing vocals. In Kane's favor, I will admit he can hit a fairly high screech, but "The Answer" seems especially grating (even for a single) despite several decent time signature changes, balanced vocals, riffing, and a prolonged solo (the song's only and fairly meager highlight). 

"Wandering Eyes" has random start-stop riffs and background screeching before going full-throttle with some solid riffing. This is one of the album's few standouts, with Gizmachi showing a unique influence that smells very VERY slightly of Meshuggah. Unlike the calculus metal of Meshuggah however, Gizmachi's guitars stack up in the face of other math metal acts as being strictly "basic addition" grade, and the nifty (at first) trick is soon lost in the band's other more common tendencies. 

"Bloodwine" is decent enough; it thrashes, slows down to crooning, and before you know it, rocks harder than anywhere before with some sweet riffing and a solid guitar solo. However, it's whiny chorus of "I gave more/something more" is so similar to the nu-metal of old that it makes the song's nice metalcore sound contrived and angsty, a definite no-no in my book. 

"Burn" sounds like a hardcore Korn jam, except somebody pasted in random melody vocals here and there to appeal to the airwaves of radio stations all over the country. 

"Romantic Devastation" has some mildly interesting breakdowns, and some subtle ambience, but is largely forgotten and doesn't do anything to break free from any of the other songs. 

"Wearing Skin" is heavy enough to almost erase the clean vocals and pop hooks of this album; it's ringing strings and breakdowns, heck even the tough-guy vocals, meld for a much needed stomper song that is a couple feet above its peers on this CD. 

"People Show" begins with some tinny drums and a voicesample, before launching into some wordless crooning over churning hard rock. An interesting twist here and there make "People Show" another standout tune; there are periods of that aforementioned metal riffing, and some melodic guitar solos that wind all over the place while drummer Jimmie Hatcher hands out a very strong performance. Closer "Voice of Sanity" is a long and somewhat interesting conglomerate of all the band's various styles, be they hardcore, or noise, or metal, ect. Despite it's large amounts of switching things up, it only blunders once or twice and it's an on-par end to The Imbuing. 

In conclusion, Gizmachi's Imbuing feels a little rushed. The various pieces of nu-metal influence here, (the traded soft-to-heavy lyrics, most of which sound almost rapped, the deeply personal musings, the lack of anything really groundbreaking, heck even Sean Kane's hand motions during the concert that recalled Fred Durst in his mainstream heyday) strongly undermine the integrity Gizmachi perhaps intended to convey with the hardcore side of their sound. To be honest, I doubt this album will make any splash whatsoever on the hardcore landscape; after seeing them in concert, I know at the very least the local hardcore contingent didn't mesh with Gizmachi's music, and no hardcore dancing, xstraightedgex signs, or even cheering following breaks in the set were given to the band as signs of approval. Metalheads will probably be even less interested; a fair number of them don't like the chugging breakdowns hardcore/metalcore often has, and Gizmachi don't have the technical chops to drop many headbanging jaws. As such, Gizmachi is at a crossroads; they are like a hardrock American Idol act, shoved into fame and trying to develop a style that doesn't imitate either benefactors (such as Slipknot) or their peers. Fortunately, Gizmachi will be touring heavily for the next year or so and will have plenty of opportunity to fine tune their sound; I personally dug the math riffs and the melodic solos over the singing and basic, paint-by-numbers-core. Regardless, Gizmachi seem to have bitten off more than they can chew and The Imbuing leaves way too many questions rather than satisfying "answers." 
 

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