I discovered this band a week ago, and I honestly didn’t expect much when I first read that Beast Modulus were only just releasing their first album after 13ish years of the project’s first rearing. I expected even less when I learned the first track is titled !TWRK! but I pushed my judgement aside, listened to BEING in a dark room in its entirety, and fuck me I’m glad I did.
You’re first inducted with a sample of Terrace McKenna, which peaked my interest. I’ve no previous albums to compare this band to so I was surprised to hear that familiar, nasal voice. I felt like it could have done without the dub step-ish phrase but it didn’t make me want to turn it off, and the heavy groove that followed had me hooked instantly. You can really feel the chemistry between the guys here and this transpires into their music. They gel together so well and you can hear the heart and the soul they’ve put into making this album. It’s rather short at 6 average length tracks but hey, quality over quantity.
As a self-proclaimed music snob I find the lyrics somewhat mediocre (that’s not to say they’re bad) but it’s so difficult to write new and original material, so I’ll let that slide. Besides, they make up for it with face melting groove. The occasional clean vocal section was a welcome change (gives me something to sing along to, huzzah), and didn’t seem at all out of place, unlike many clean verses I hear nowadays which seem to be there for the sake of being there. As for the music, to me there isn’t really anything I would change. There’s a good mix of what I would expect a math metal band to play, with a few guitar hooks scattered throughout. Like sprinkling cumin on something already spicy. I found myself humming a few bits while working, but not in that annoying AAAH GET THE FUCK OUT MY HEAD hum. I liked it (my colleagues, not so much)
The best way I can describe BEING is this; imagine Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon (pre Crack The Skye) had a baby. Give the baby a calculator and voilá, you have Beast Modulus.
So, in short, I’m glad I came across Beast Modulus and feel lucky to review BEING. They’ve got a new life long fan in me for sure and I’m really excited to see what they’ll do next. My biggest gripe is that there’s just not enough of it.
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