» 4 out of 5 Evil Faces

Here is a new release from Canadian metal band Fuck The Facts, released by Relapse records entitled Stigmata High Five.

This marks F.T.F.’s journey from obscure underground metal to a new high. The Relapse high!

I guess I am just not into grind metal as much as I used to be, or maybe it is changing from what it was at one time. I have mentioned before that going back a few years this CD would have been right up my alley but these days not as much, but I still like it.

Fuck The Facts is a cross between grind, death and hardcore, with sound effects mixed in (static, feedback voices, phone sounds, wind chimes and more…) there are also some slow keyboardy parts as well.

It has definite similarities with Dying Fetus, Misery Index and bands such as those, plus a discordant mathcore influence.

Though this release is not without uniqueness as well. In fact, I am not sure I have ever heard another band that sounds exactly like F.T.F. does.

The guitar is cool, intricate picking, chunky riffs, alot of false harmonics and even some pretty melodies as well. They play at varying speeds from slow doomy riffs to all out grinding, also some groovy parts are thrown in for atmosphere.

The drums are well played and recorded. Some of the rolls might be a bit mechanical sounding, but for the most part they sound like real drums.

The vocals are raspy, mostly made up of screams and growls. You could never tell that it is a female singer, if you did not know it.

All in all, I would say that this is a great CD, though something about it just does not do it for me. It is not a CD that I see myself sitting around and listening to over and over again. It is not groovy enough for that.

It is pretty intense and up-tempo for the most part. It is raspy to listen to and has alot of tempo changes. Some are rather abrupt, so it keeps your ears on their feet, so to speak.

They bridge the tempo changes really well and all, but it is a constant change. They never get to a good groove and keep it going. It is very sporadic. Like I say it is a cool CD. I like the style and if this we’re another time. I would really be prasing this release.

If you are a fan of technical death/grind/punk than this is the CD for you.