Reviews

The Cast Pattern is a strong Kansas band that is starting to get some attention on a nationwide scale. The band signed to Midgets with Machetes, Brad Thomson of The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza's label and had their self-titled album mastered by Scott Hull, who has worked with grind acts Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Pig Destroyer. The band recorded, engineered, produced and mixed the album themselves, so the D.I.Y. ethics are still very present. The Cast Pattern is very comparable to The Red Chord's earlier stuff, and to a huge surprise, Guy Kozowyk, front man of The Red Chord, adds some guest vocals on "Shut Your...".

The band combines the technicality of grind and technical death metal and matches it with hardcore. What comes out is a very heavy technical metal band, which covers just about all ground imaginable. The band shows off their talents and heavy onslaught on tracks like "Set Like, Three Things on Fire" and "Die with Your Boots On." I can already tell you that I prefer this band's sound more than that of Tony Danza or The Red Chord, simply because I can get really bored with all the technicality other bands bring to the table; it's like watching a Led Zeppelin solo that lasts twenty minutes, you just want to punch yourself in the face.

As the album comes to a close, the final product is a little less than 30 minutes. Though the album is a little short for a full-length, what the band accomplishes in those 30 minutes is some good old ruckus. For a debut full-length and an almost 100% self-done record, this is impressive. The band has some good song writing already, but I think they can get even better. The last track, "..Homeless Mouth," which is reminiscent of Isis, shows a part of the band that I think they should explore more. Hopefully these guys will get a deal with a larger independent label and get some funding behind them to create a great album, the talent is already there.