HEAVY META "Mana Regmata"
By Dr. Abner Mality
From the wacky and over-caffeinated side alleys of metal comes HEAVY META. This is not an album for those who like easily digestible, old school metal sounds. In the press sheet, they get compared to a ridiculous amount of bands, including FAITH NO MORE, VOI VOD, KING CRIMSON, CORONER, CONVERGE and even RUSH. Actually, you can hear bits and pieces of influence from most of those bands. But RUSH and ABIGOR? No, don't think so...
I was surprised by how heavy and aggressive the album is. Goofy ass descriptions like "cowboy nintendocore" had me fearing the worst, but no, this is definitely a metal band. The bass guitar is super prominent throughout and that gives things a funky feeling, which is where FAITH NO MORE comes in...also MR. BUNGLE. But there's a lot of choppy, mathematical jumping around, with tons of riff and time changes. That's where VOI VOD enters and sometimes that influence is very obvious while at other times it is almost inperceptible. HEAVY META plays berserk metal carnival music, complete with keyboard flourishes and goofy vocals that give things a circus vibe. The vocals are high pitched shrieking with occasional smooth jazz and pop digressions...not on the level of Mike Patton or Todd Smith from DOG FASHION DISCO, but then, few are.
It is an exhausting album to listen to, but has a feeling of fun and energy to it. After hearing the abomination known as ELECTROMANCY, HEAVY META is almost a relief. If a head on collision between MR. BUNGLE and VOI VOD sounds interesting, by all means, dig in...