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Botch - Anthology of Dead Ends
Album Reviews
Written by Adrian Cole   
Every now and then a band will come around that will totally just blow everyone out of the water and either completely raise the bar for a certain genre or create a new one. And I honestly think Botch is one of those bands. They didn't create the genre but they definitely raised the bar. Personally I place them higher than cave in and converge. But hey that's just me. Anyway, they did what most bands should have done. Quit while they were ahead.
Clocking in at 21:48 with 6 songs (4 of em being complete songs) this c.d. is over before you know it and will leave you craving for much more. Which sadly will never happen. So the  c.d. starts off with Spaim, a 14 second, weird... thing just weird guitar tricks and than blasts into Japam which is a song about some crack heads that left their kids to die when they decided to grab their drugs and etc. instead of the children. It's an awesome song with great riffs and drums. The first thing you'll notice is the vocals. Compared to We Are The Romans their a lot more pissed off sounding and harsh. Definitely sounds awesome. The song goes through a few changes loud to soft to loud than really heavy with intense singalongs and vocal patterns (not hxc singalongs botch singalongs), basically a great opener to a great c.d. Keeping the ball rolling is Framce cant remember what this one is about just because I'm not quit sure where the layout is (I know where it is I just don't feel like unpacking) Botch is definitely one of those bands that can properly use noise chords. It doesn't have that lame over-polished sound it just sounds dirty. Which is one of the reasons I love this band. They are gritty as hell. Just listen to the guitars, the way they play just sounds so dirty and raw, and the bass, I honestly love this guys tone. Anyway another great song, I'm trying to describe the song a little bit but you honestly can't describe a botch song. They are just awesome songwriters. Anyway... Vietmam, umm.. Whatever. Awesome song. Can't describe it. Awesome song. Afghamistam up next is a song that you would never expect from botch but when you think about it it kinda makes sense. (They did music their own way and didn't bother to impress anyone but themselves.) The main melody I believe is played by a Bass, or just a really thick sounding guitar but I'm almost positive is bass. Starting off with just this bass line and clean vocals, no amazing melodies here but it fits the song perfectly. Around 2:21 the drums come in and it gets a little heavier. Not heavy like distortion but think like John Bonham on the drums but with less intense of a hi-hat sound. With an offtime beat with the guitar following and the bass line just playing a simple backbone to bring it all home. Than you start to hear some synth, nothing fancy just a good background that adds perfectly to the music, next introduced is a piano melody by itself with some violins and violas accompanying it and some pink floyd-esque effects (random talking etc. blah blah.) Up next is Micaragua my least favourite track but everyone else seems to dig it. I think it was just a sort of tongue in cheek answer to their previous discography of never being a simple breakdown band. Starting with some drums and drum fills and than a simple chuggy guitar part and basically a long drawnout breakdown with different background effects. On it's own it's not that great of a song but when you listen to it all the way through it's awesome.

I personally hate listening to this c.d. in parts I have to listen to it all the way through. It's an amazing piece of work. This band is the perfect example of what a band should be. Yes they're a somewhat tech band but they will do shit that's tech and you wont even realize it the first few times because they don't make it stand out. You don't just hear a guitar doing a solo or whatever showing off, you get the idea. You hear the entire band as a whole, it's a perfect balance between the musicians that is definitely hard to find. The bass is solid, the guitars are solid, the singer is solid, and the drummer is I think the most important part of the band. Hardly any double bass, usually just single pedal work, which is rare these days. (Not saying he doesn't bust out some double bass cause he definitely does) but he's one of those drummers that can easily hold their own with a single pedal which is a great thing to find in drummers.

 Basically they're pretty much perfect in my opinion. We are the Romans and Anthology of Dead Ends are some of the most solid c.d.'s in this genre you can hear. No songs on either of these c.d.'s are skippers. Sorry for rambling so much but I seriously love these c.d.'s I regret so much that I never got to see them. I believe this c.d. is now out of print so if you see a copy make sure you pick it up and if you see it for download, download it (unless it's still in print than try and pick up the c.d.)

Botch-Anthology of Dead Ends
Oct. 15 2002
1.Spaim
2.Japam
3.Framce
4.Vietnam
5.Afghamistam
6.Micaragua


5 stars
 
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