Album Details

• Artist: Cinemechanica
• Album: The Martial Arts
• Label: Hello Sir
• Year of Release: 2006
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: digitalbath on 2008-02-21

Fans of The Fall  of Troy's guitar style and Moneen's vocals will be decently pleased with Cinemechanica's debut album The Martial Arts.  Cinemechanica isn't doing anything terribly original with The Martial Arts and as far as a mixture of the two aforementioned bands, Cinemechanica seems to have emulated only a sub-par version of each.  The album isn't horrible though and is definitely worth a listen if you are a fan of some staccato guitar, snare driven drum beats, and a sound that screams "Hey, I'm an indie band."

The album starts off a bit awkwardly with the song "Pen" which begins with some messy off-beat drumming and the typical finger-tapping you'll find throughout the entire album.  One thing that is kind of interesting about their guitar sound however, is that they use very limited distortion.  The distortion sounds like it would be more appropriate for a blues/jazz album but is found interlaced within this semi-hardcore/rock/math-rock album.  Most of the songs, most notably "Antsinjapants" and "Brain Tarp" have an irregular structure which gives each song an epic sort of feel.  Their songs are definitely more of a journey rather than the typical verse-chorus format.  The guitars hum out some dissonant harmonies as well that would typically sound awkward, but Cinemechanica makes them work. Their lyrical style is off-beat and discusses some interesting topics such as in "Brain Tarp" when Bryant Williamson seems to be having a conversation with his brain, but nothing thought-provoking enough to warrant specific mention.

All in all Cinemechanica put together a worthwhile rock album with The Martial Arts but I'm not about to go shout their praise on my rooftop.  If you want to experience a hardcore album with a mellower sound than you would typically expect, get The Martial Arts, but don't feel obligated or rushed about it. 

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