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Bioscrape

Bioscrape EP

Written by: PP on 26/02/2008 03:09:50

It's rare to see a band associated with nu-metal these days, and even rarer to meet a band who openly states on their Myspace page that they are influenced by Limp Bizkit. That takes some guts, considering how terrible Limp Bizkit have been since their sophomore album (yes, I actually liked 3$Bill & Significant Other!). The band in question originates from Italy, goes under the name of Bioscrape, and they have just recently released their self-titled debut EP.

I guess it is a redeeming factor that the band proceeds to list Sepultura, Pantera and Mudvayne on their influence list. But most listeners with knowledge to those bands should be able to guess them anyway from Bioscrape's sound, as it can be roughly summarized by calling it the result if those three bands got together for a few jam sessions and recorded it live. Bioscrape has the rawness of Mudvayne, the evil punch of Sepultura, and the drizzling riffs of Pantera. The end result? A monstrously heavy, rending sound, which tears through your skull like a cheese grater. At least on first listen.

As the EP opens with the full-blast "Level 7", the first listening session is painful. There's no direct melody, the vocalist doesn't really growl brutally but just sing-screams with a dirtily distorted voice, and the guitars are heavily down-tuned in the vein of Mudvayne. There's even hints of industrial metal on "Empty Day". Not exactly your ideal hangover music, believe me.

In the end, this is the stumbling stone for Bioscrape's debut EP. From the initial outlook, their sound is probably as uninviting and inaccessible as you could imagine, and coupled with questionable production (recorded at their homes?), it's something that most people will give one, maybe two listens to before scrapping it. This is a great shame because underneath the razor sharp surface you can find a band that's very, very close of nailing their songwriting down in an ace way. There's groove, there's sheer aggression, and there's great song structure. This is all stuff that keeps me coming back to the release instead of just endlessly pushing it forward and forward in my neverending pile of reviews. But as I said before, I will be among the few that will. So the conclusion? With better production and smoothed out edges, Bioscrape will be an interesting band to follow in the future.

Download: Level 7, Insanity
For the fans of: koRn, Mudvayne, Pantera
Listen: Myspace

Release date 01.11.2007
UNSIGNED BAND