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Pitbulls in the Nursery > Equanimity > Reviews
Pitbulls in the Nursery - Equanimity

Protect the Infants! - 87%

RondofedoR, May 23rd, 2015
Written based on this version: 2015, CD, Independent

When you consider the band name Pitbulls in the Nursery, do you visualize wide-muzzled dogs, rabid and feasting on pools of soft and steaming infant guts? Or perhaps you imagine a well-kept daycare void of human guardians, patrolled instead by a gang of faithful canines intent on keeping their newborn friends alive and away from harm? Whatever you choose to picture, rest assured that this unification of odd feelings and swaying analyses will fit neatly with the approach of these French lunatics.

Back from a nine-year layoff, and void of a Panda, the experimentally extreme progressive death metal band Pitbulls in the Nursery have returned with their long-lusted for second full-length release, Equanimity, and it sounds every bit as dynamic and out-there as one would expect from a French metal export.

Signed to Klonosphere and flanked by other rhythmically inclined acts like Klone and Trepalium, Pitbulls fit neatly into this heavily groove-influenced camp of odd-time signatures, thundering riffs, and genre fusion. Bands like Meshuggah, Car Bomb, and Gojira instantly spring to mind, but so does a well of early 2000s acts that may or may not be related to the oft-disparaged nu-metal generation. New vocalist Tersim Backle’s lyrical output is expressive and cyclical, repeating lines until they grow and fester, and both his raspy screams and the band’s predilection for bizarre notes and jazzy swells remind of Mudvayne’s wholly underrated The End of All Things.

But in spite of these shaky reference points, Pitbulls are first and foremost their own eclectic entity, and they start things off at fever pitch with “Crawling,” a nearly nine-minute welcome-back that absolutely stuns on the tail-end of its gorgeous guitar leads and drum patterns, ultimately detonating into an absolute whirlwind of Tool-escapism. Likewise, a recurring trait on Equanimity involves the band’s decision to incorporate passages of unique subtlety, quelling the speed factor in favor of dialed-down ambiance and jazzed-up theatrics. Bits of this can be gleaned in nearly every song, but none leave as fine a mark than those found on “Reality” or the reggae-esque “Soul Bones.”

The template on Equanimity is surely of the more percussive and rhythmic variety, with tracks stuttering and blasting off in countless directions and tempos, but it’s the record’s modern, quasi-urban attitude that works wonders in keeping things delightfully off-balance and fresh. The songs do much of the same, but then are also just as likely to be totally different from any other band you hear in 2015. Sure, there’s The Link-era Gojira and mid-to-late 90s Meshuggah to be discerned, but the sheer irregularity and implacable charms of Pitbulls in the Nursery will keep this album spinning. Not quite the deranged masterpiece that was Lunatic, but this larger, more ambitious brute may offer even more in the long run.

Written for The Metal Observer