SEVER ROOTS, TREE DIES

The debut full length-album by Cheer-Accident, Sever Root Tree Dies, once again is a pretty different slice of music than what I have heard from them before. Other than Fear Draws Misfortune, this one sounds the most like Avant-Prog to my ears, yet beyond that the similarities between the two end. As the name suggests, this album has a much more violent sound to it. The music often sounds like it is being driven forward recklessly, especially on tracks such as Avoid the Invisible. You can clearly recognise Thymme's voice on this record, but he shares vocal duties with Chris Block, and either there is distortion on the vocals a lot of the time or they were just recorded oddly, but it adds to the aggressive feel of this album.

Surprisingly, there are only three members playing on this album - a fact that can be hard to believe while listening, for it sounds like there are at least 5 or 6 guys in the studio.

Compositionally this album is quite excellent. The tracks move from idea to idea, but in a very purposeful way. This is especially clear in the opener, "Fight For Innocence", which starts off with a nice, peaceful piano line, that slowly grows more and more angular as other instruments are added and the theme changes subtly.

Speaking of piano, Thymme is quite a talented player. Typically the piano lines are quite pretty, but this juxtaposition with the rest of Cheer-Accidents music (which is much less peaceful) really adds a unique flavor to this album. Severed is another place on the album where his pianos really shine.

Unfortunately, a couple of tracks suffer from repetitive end syndrome. I once again cite Avoid the Invisible, which at the end repeats the same sound for close to a full minute.

Cheer-Accident aren't a band without a sense of humour, as the track of the second-to-last track, "Cutting Off My Arm So I Don't Have To Shake Hands", reveals.The track itself is in fact one of the catchier ones off the album, a fast guitar riff really giving it a boost of energy, especially when combined with the rest of the Cheer-Accident sound (on this album).

I'm four albums into Cheer-Accident's discography, and don't quite know what to expect from their next one. What I do know is that so far, each one has succeeded in sounding fresh and unique, and this one is no exception. Very enjoyable.