CIRCUMAMBULATION

Lost Apparition appears to be one of those new-fangled testosterone-injected punk bands that wants to combine the shrieking and screaming of hardcore music while throwing in rapid-fire licks and blinding pace, a la Mars Volta. It's just a shame they can't bring anything new to the table.

After laughing at the hideously stupid opening title (all hardcore bands write song titles like this to think they're so smart and clever), I waited for something to blow my pants off, but nothing ever came. The changes were quick and some of the licks were very impressive, even managing to keep the melodies intact, yet I feared the vocals would become a huge problem as I progressed through this disc.

Also overlooking the fact they spelled "Destroyer" wrong on the second song, their attempt to brighten the mood with singing really didn't work. Top tip: if you can't sing well, don't sing at all.

"Knowledge And Progress" provided a nice relief from the constant head-thrashing of dullness in the previous tracks, yet I sat there thinking the vocal work could still have been massively improved had this been performed by another band. Yet, with not as much screaming, this was one of the more noticeable tracks on the album. "Harry Slaughter", on the other hand, finally puts the puzzle pieces together. In trying to make comparisons, it took the fourth track to hear resemblances of The Fall Of Troy here (early FoT at that).

VERDICT: Unfortunately, the rest of the album concludes with the same song and dance, apart from the closer which is some weird atmospheric soundscape. Either way, it's not really one to write home about. The irony here is that Lost Apparitions have squeezed themselves into such a narrow genre of music with few listeners, and yet because they're trying to emulate The Mars Volta and The Fall Of Troy, they've failed to create a unique sound that sets them apart from the others. The end result? This is one album sure to be lost of the dusty vaults of history with very few fans in its wake.

FAVORITES: "Knowledge And Progress", "Harry Slaughter", anything by The Mars Volta