Bear have timed their latest album to perfection. With Dillinger Escape Plan hanging up their hat for the foreseeable future, the market – and indeed the plinth for technically demanding math metal – is wide open for someone to carry the flag, and Bear’s latest album ‘///’ has all the potential and ingenuity to do just that.
Opening track ‘Blackpool’ possesses both rip-your-face-off technicality and the juxtaposed, more choral moments that immediately give this band something that others do not possess. The guitar has that skin burning edge that Dillinger Escape Plan perfected so well, and the break downs are as heavy as Mesuggah in places, before the sing-a-long vocals are cut behind a doggedly persistent bass drum and the vocal temperament drops several levels of crazy; the eventual return to the lighter-touch vocals completes what is an immense opening track, and sets the stage for the rest of the album.
The jaggedness of ‘Hounds’ is reminiscent of Converge; the heavy parts in this song are as heavy as it gets in this genre, the riff uneasy like the edge of a knife. The vocal parts are like a wave washing over you – there is literally no let up and certainly no escape. ‘Childbreaker’ takes the prize for most insane song on the release, the tempo and playing ability totally ludicrous. The riff in this track is jaw-droppingly sumptuous and the tight production really goes the whole hog.
The bass in the intro to ‘7’ is as funky as it is weird and punchy – the harmonious and ghostly vocal parts are the perfect antidote to what is a heavy as hell prelude, the elongated vocal scream surely not possible live, but nonetheless incredible as a natural break between chorus and verse. The eventual and queasy bass line carries the song to its natural end, before the gargantuan riff work of ‘Klank’ tears a new one, the layered guitar sounding as heavy as Thy Art Is Murder in its deliciously lazy and technical style: a short and instrumental cacophony of badass riffs. The thought of Bear live is terrifyingly mouth watering.
Bear’s great strength is their variety. It’s pushing it slightly, but parts of ‘Raw’ even have a vague disco/electronic sounding gleam to it. Not for fans of Kraftwerk but it is great to see bands experimenting with different sound palettes and how they fit within, and join, different genres.
Final track ‘Adust. Adapt’ portrays Bear’s ability to new levels, the chorus more commercially viable than previous tracks, the huge and spine tingling barrage giving way to a tremolo section of guitar work that is without doubt a contender for best end to an album this year. The school choir-sounding multi vocal section that takes over from the guitar is incredibly delightful and unexpected.
Bear could have easily produced an album that portrayed their skills in heavy, math and technically inspired metal. But, and this is a but that will surely see them take more plaudits from this release, they have engineered a sound that takes what has been done before and blends it with a huge and aural sound palette that both excites and energises the sound that they have mastered. It is a release that marks them not only as ones to watch but ‘///’ is an album that must already be considered for one of the better technical albums of 2017.
DAVE BULL