Incompetence Drive

I've had this album for a while after a friend recommended them to me, and I listen every now and again for a few of the more standout tracks on the album.

Overall, the guitar work is more than satisfactory. There are plenty of great riffs and some groovy passages. The percussion is also played by a more than competent musician. The bass can actually be heard, and is played in what seems to be a complementary style as opposed to mimicking the guitars.

As far as songwriting goes, these guys are extremely talented. The guitar work is melodic and complex, but without much fretboard wanking in that excessive sort of way, and it works to their advantage. The solos are all well placed, and maintain the set harsh sort of groove sound.

There is a fairly good amount of variety in these songs. Some of them are Thrash-y, Groove tracks with some odd riffs thrown in for good measure. Others are straight out Prog tracks, and then there are even a few tracks on here that stay in the vein of Heavy Metal.

But pretty much every sound these guys go for comes out pretty well. The only complaint I have with the album is the "harsh" vocals. There are some well done screams placed here and there, etc, and the clean vox are damn, damn good, but occasionally, as in the first part of Scraped to the Flesh, this gritty mess just doesn't fly over too well.

Also, let it be noted that pretty much every chorus featured gives me shivers.