Demo Title: 13 Horror-Able Misadventures
Band Members: BadFret (Vocals and Instrumentation)
Location: Mud, WA
Rating: 4 Skulls
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Band Name: BadFret
Demo Title: 13 Horror-Able Misadventures Band Members: BadFret (Vocals and Instrumentation) Location: Mud, WA Rating: 4 Skulls
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Slither's Review:
Horror music, ladies and gentlemen, a widely unknown and open ended style of performance fairly far removed from the sinew splattered offerings of most gore-centric death metal. Unique as a genre tag in that the artist can pretty much play any style of music as long as they embrace the imagery and atmosphere that surrounds the similarly underground scene of low budget horror films. A bit of information can be uncovered at the website of one of the more ubiquitous labels (Antidote Records), but I think quoting the man himself is the best way give a sense of the style in somewhat sweeping terms. "It's kinda like punk where it's almost the attitude that classifies the music sometimes. The basic attitude: Horror movies, FUCK YEAH. If you've ever laughed your ass off as someone gets killed with an ice cream cone, or made people watch a movie just to see how scared they get, then you have the basic idea." I can certainly identify, I love horrible scary movies, and I love laughing while teenagers get decapitated.13 Horror-Able Misadventures plays out a bit more like a soundtrack than it does a conventional album. Beginning and ending with strange synthetic pieces that seem to encompass what falls in the middle, the album has a sense of self-containment. At times droning and dissonant, occasionally industrial sounding (blistering solos combined with these sections often evoking comparisons to oddball artist Buckethead), sparsely littered with electronic elements and strange processing but always centered around a synthetic drum kit and biting bluesy guitar tone. Since I have known the man called BadFret for years and helped engineer a bit on this album I can say with certainty that it is a window into his psyche. The end result is a highly creative if somewhat meandering trek through soundscapes that simply can't be found in another format.
I have the unusual perspective to have been present at many stages of this project and my complaints and praises have remained largely unchanged. I despise drum machines and there is no hiding the fact that the Boss DR-5, a venerable workhorse of digital percussion, was used throughout this album for sequencing in combination with a Roland V-drum head. In this context the sound can be overlooked a bit because of the somewhat industrial nature of the music and the fact that it is a home recording. The only other aspect that irks me a bit is the vocals, which range from ideal and suiting to somewhat uncomfortable. Luckily the questionable parts are few and far between and are not a major detracting factor on this release. Positive aspects far outweigh the minor negatives; the production is solid and came out miraculously considering the equipment that was used, the song structures are inventive and yield a bit of a story if taken in one sitting, and impressive guitar playing abounds. If a somewhat ambient and digitized take on blues based rock with an underpinning of uncomfortable atmosphere interests you, look no further than BadFret.
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