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36 Crazyfists - A Snow Capped Romance
by Mark Hensch

Before you read this review, take maybe ten seconds to ask yourself one question:  Have you ever been to Anchorage, Alaska?  Regardless of your own personal answer, most readers will most likely respond with a "no."  Anchorage natives 36 Crazyfists would like to hear the word "no" more then "yes." 

The band attributes its strange and fresh style of music to geographical isolation, and with good reason too; there are few bands that sound like this.
Whenever a new artist needs to be reviewed here at antiMUSIC.com, the band's album is posted with a genre to help each individual reviewer choose an album that will match their musical tastes more closely.  When I was deciding what band to review for this article, I wanted to do something odd for me, and I saw 36 Crazyfists labeled simply as "nu-metal."  Now normally the phrase nu-metal would make my brain become overwhelmed with personal bias and refuse to pay the band the nicety of a listen or two.  Upon hearing 36 Crazyfists, I was blown away and will never judge a so-called "nu-metal" band again; Crazyfists possess a remarkable amount of talent and style that is not generic nu-metal, and maybe not nu-metal at all.  Picture a molotov cocktail made from a slightly altered voice of Glassjaw frontman Daryl Palumbo, elephant stomp guitar riffs, enticing and melodic hardcore screams, tight drumming, and old school metal guitar solos (at times) and stir nicely.  Light it with a flame of passion intense enough to melt the snows of Mt. McKinnley (the tallest mountain in both Alaska and the U.S.) and you've got 36 Crazyfists.  

The band formed in 1994, but didn't really make much of a splash in the continental U.S. music scene until relocating to Portland, Oregon and releasing Bitterness the Star in 2002.  With the release of A Snow Capped Romance, the band intends to further define their unusual sound and it sounds to me like they know what they are doing.

 "At the End of August" simmers into a taunting riff and a nice drumbeat before lead singer Brock Lindow speaks a creepy little interlude under voice distortion.  Next, this song (apparently bemoaning a fading friendship) is peppered with hardcore-worthy screams and Glassjaw-worthy soaring vocals, before closing with some sweet driving riffs.  Guitarist Steve Holt shines on "The Heart and the Shape," his old-school metal notes busting out before a System of A Down worthy riff infused with squealing metal strings.  Lindow pulls an alternating wavering Glassjaw falsetto and hardcore screams that is strangely effective over the power riffs backing his vocals. 

"Bloodwork" finds Holt playing a creeper riff before bursting with some old metal jams and Lindow somehow takes the Glassjaw voice and makes it almost Mars-Voltan during the chorus.  "Kenai" shrieks in with some major feedback, and then another set of chugging SOAD riffs and hardcore screams that spread homesickness like an actual disease as the band talks about missing Alaska (or do they?!).  By its powerful end, the song is back with the wailing feedback from the start. 

"Skin and Atmosphere" is a more laid-back song with a fuzzy guitar background allowing Lindow to sit back and vocally coast.  The cascading chorus and interludes have Holt experimenting with some watery guitar effects.  Towards the end more SOAD riffs and metal notes flourish in harmony, and drummer Thomas Noonan keeps his mellow to quick drumming nicely in check.  "Song for the Fisherman" is a short clean guitar and Linkin Parkish soul-search the album could have done without.  

"With Nothing Underneath" is loaded with steady drumming and bass (by Mick Whitney the bassist), solid guitar (with a some nice clean parts) and the vocals are soaring and screaming all over again.  "Destroy the Map" is a radio friendly soft rock jam.  The strange vocal stylings of Brock make the clean to distorted guitar parts mesh well, and this is a more laid-back track.  "Installing the Catheter" starts with ominous notes into a quasi metal riff before switching back again.  

The vocals on this song again alternate between radio friendly hard rock and underground hardcore acts.  Some female guest vocals spoken over a airy set of guitar notes next erupts into a rapid-fire drum beat and solid metal riffs and a powerful rendition of the chorus, making this song seem a little fresher towards the end of the album then the last two songs.  "Cure Eclipse" is a solid Nu-Core fusion song that should please most fans of heavier music, yet is still accessible to their more mainstream friends, and Brock still finds new ways to alter his abnormal vocals on the song's verses.  "Waterhaul" has a beautiful, watery guitar start that invokes images of thawing rivers, and then chugging riffs blast out full force with some nice start-stop drum beats.  This is an excellent close to the album, and it vaguely reminds me a little of Tool's radio stuff for some reason.

 Call it geographical isolation, or call it unbridled artistic vision.  This CD is wicked fun, and this comes from someone who normally laughs at the worthless stylings of radio-friendly nu-metal acts, opting instead to listen to bands like Shadows Fall or Avenged Sevenfold.  Though not ungodly in its technical guitar pieces, the metal riffs are tight, exciting, and oddly invigorating.  The drums and bass are adequate, but not spectacular.  The thing that caps this album's place in my CD tower for me however is the vocals.  Strange, familiar, yet wholly unique, Brock Lindow's voice is odd and a true blessing for a band that has typically not been able to be heard due to location.  I highly recommend this CD, and its well worth it; these Alaskans are thawing out the dying genre that is "nu-metal."
 

36 Crazyfists - A Snow Capped Romance
Label: Roadrunner Records
Rating: 

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