SCARSICK

I've only listened to this 3 times or so but I find it quite catchy, quite pleasing to listen to. The songs are based around criticising America and all it appears to be to the outside world, especially the materialistic and egotistical components. I expect that may mean a few Americans may declare Daniel Gildenlow as the new Osama Bin Laden. The fact is that PoS aren't repeating themselves, there's a fair few curve balls for anyone wanting The Perfect Element 2. The first song, scarsick, whilst having a bit of a dull riff gets into your head at the end with a build up of melody. The second song sounds like Eminem, Korn or something, with the standard sampled style of backing over a beat and rapping vocals fro the verse and a melodic sung chorus. The rapping is more of a venomous rant, like Mike Patton does, not like 50 cent or Puff Daddy. The thing some have missed is that this song is basically an attack on the black rapper stud with all their hired ho's and how they are nothing. It's called irony or something... Cribcaged is more standard PoS fair, but a bit more laid back, there's no real progressive metal flash from their earlier days. The lyrics deal with the shallowness of celebrity. "America" - comes across a bit like a quirky pop guitar song, can't pigeonhole it. Disco Queen starts up with a standard dance beat and bass line, but breaks down into a slow crawl in the verses. At 8 minutes it ain't really gonna be heard on the dance floor, bit of a double en tendre in the lyrics too - once again, bit of a comment on the nightclub slut scene. Kingdom of Loss - "All for sale", you get the idea of the lyrics, a nice slower number that builds towards the end, nice gentle chorus, very catchy, poignant lyrics. "Mother Mary" - Again, not such a great repetitive riff, all this talk about Daniel's customised new guitars and pickups, maybe the guitar was forgotten in the production, the heavy bits sound tinny to me, not enough warmth or crunch. Not a bad song, but not right up there with the rest. "Idiocracy" is another song that builds to a finale, again, the heavy guitars grate a bit, but maybe I like the vintage tones better. "Flame to the moth" starts up with another tinny guitar riff and a bit of an eastern flavour "Enter Rain" is slow brooder, heavy in bits, softer in other bits. Bit of slide guitar

Throughout the album, there's lots of little tastes, bit of flamenco, bit of electronica, etc, I don't really notice it (it's all music), but when I do it's a nice surprise. It's an interesting a quite diverse in its sounds and where the songs go (progress) within themselves. I guess I hear a bit too much Korn or Faith No More in this album, no, it's not as breathtaking as Perfect Element or Remedy Lane, the multilayered harmonies and solso aren't as apparent and Daniel Gildenlow is almost restrained, but they don't want to write the same song over and over, and that is why they are a great band. The songs are still interesting, the lyrics still deep. My main criticisms are the lack of warmth in the vocal production and guitars, but perhaps this is their preferred sound as it's consistent with their other releases. I do love a good expressive or wanky guitar solo too....