5 Billion Dead

On principle, I hate this. It's poppy alternative rock with some screams, and marketed as death metal. It reminds me of Korn most of the time, and a lot of generic nu metal in terms of the "harsh" vocals, and even System of a Down at times. But, from a strictly musical standpoint, this is actually really good fucking music, embarrassing though that may be to admit. Don't get me wrong - this is a nu metal/metalcore hybrid, through and through, but just...wow. These guys really know how to write a catchy fucking song.

I wanted to hate this, when I went into it. I tried to hate this; I really did...but I just couldn't. The vocals, except during some particularly clean passages (which are absolutely spectacular, by the way), are disturbingly reminiscent of the infamous Corey Taylor. The lyrics, usually, aren't much better - example from the definitely-not-angsty track "Hate The World": "Hate the world / Hate this fucking world / I've put up with too much shit in this fuckin' world / And it's fuckin' pissed me fuckin' off / And there's too many fuckin' feelings in my FUCKIN' head / And please understand" - embarrassing, I know; I blushed just typing it. Fortunately, the idiocy is toned down considerably throughout the rest of this EP (the track mentioned is the exception), but the lyrics are still nothing you'd be admit listening to.

There are breakdowns everywhere, but those, like the rest of the album, are catchy as all hell. I can't stress that enough - this is catchy fucking music. The entire EP can be found on the band's MySpace profile, so just go give it a listen - you'll be amazed at how impossible it is not to literally dance along with the music. I can't even begin to imagine what the crowd would be like if these guys ever played live - their ability to write music truly is remarkable. The abundance of Serj Tankian-esque clean vocals really add to the way the music makes you want to just flail around like an idiot. They're more of an instrument than actual vocals.

Rife with blastbeats, breakdowns, chugga-chugga nonsense, and Corey Taylor-sounding vocals: By all rights, 5 Billion Dead's self-titled EP should be the worst thing since St. Anger, but instead, it kicks the shit out of almost all music produced in the last 5 years. I really was, and still am, absolutely floored by how good this sounds. I give it a 91/100, simply because the lyrics are shallow at best, and embarrassing at worst. Keep an eye out for these guys in the future, and go to their goddamn MySpace and listen to the music.

5 Billion Dead are quite the unique band, blending melodic death metal with metalcore. Chances are, this isn't going to please a whole bunch of purists in metal, but for those willing to try new things out, it works pretty well. Unfortunately, the emotion is quite lacking, and for a band who tries to have personal lyrics and seem "street" in their sound, emotion should be a #1 priority. Onto the music.

Parts of their songs utilize stereotypical death metal riffs; heavy, chunky, and full of change ups. Other parts use more clean riffs, sometimes even sounding acoustical. The vocalist, Strain, follows along the same path, changing between almost girlish sounding singing and death grunts.

The drumming is on par, keeping the songs trudging along. The bass is barely noticable, which is a definite negative. No bass makes Shovel a sad gardening tool. There is so much room for improvement in this band, and thankfully they are young and fresh.

Is this album going to push metal foward? Yes. But I'm afraid the direction will not be right, at least not for the majority of serious metalheads. Pick this album up if you would like to hear something new and refreshing. Quality is another story.

Oh, and the videos on this CD are part of a flash program, so you can't even save them to your hard drive as mpgs or anything. Talk about a shitty deal.