low gear - Siktunes
by James

In my humble opinion, Nu Metal has gotten very stale in the last couple of years. The genre has seen very little in terms of innovation and creativity, due to the fact that almost any band who sounds like Korn, Deftones or Sevendust is almost guaranteed a record deal. Now, I understand that most bands within any genre are going to share a lot of common elements in their music, but it is the bands that choose to bring elements not commonly found within the music of their contemporaries that tend to stand out. Sevendust added soulful, melodic vocals to Korn's down-tuned sound and created a completely unique sound all their own that has been cloned a million times since. Even the smallest change in the formula can wield noteworthy results.

Low Gear starts with the basic Korn formula, but adds in occasional techno-tinged samples and a vocalist that sounds like no one else on the scene. The result is one of the most enjoyable Nu Metal releases I have heard in a long time. Minister Roach's vocals and lyrics have a manic feel to them that lend themselves well to the pulsating, bass-driven intensity of the music found on Siktunes. The music, as I said, is very reminiscent of Korn, when that band was in it's prime. Low Gear employs thumping breakdowns to complement their crawling groove of guitarists Rojo and Mucky in Scab Lab while You and Me opens up with an in-your-face flurry of double-bass from Drummer Gotti. Low Gear is very fortunate in that they do an excellent job of making all of their songs stand out from one another, so that you do not feel like you are listening to the same track over and over.

I wont lie; I did not expect to like this album much when I first popped it in. However, this CD grabbed me, right away, and I found that I kept listening to it long after I felt I had a good enough feel for it to do a semi-informed review of it. While it is not the most ground-breaking album I have ever heard, it is certainly one of the most enjoyable in recent memory.