| Lawrence, KS is a college town outside of Kansas City and plays host to a massive music scene (and the NCAA Mens National Basketball champion KU Jayhawks). It also happens to be home to The Cast Pattern. Their self titled album is the first release on Midgets With Machetes Records, a label started by the guitarist from The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza. For a debut it’s undeniable that they’re talented.
These Kansas boys take a big queue from a band full of local all-stars named Coalesce. Any sort of denial of this would be futile, it’s blatantly obvious (the singer seems like he’s trying to make Sean Ingram proud for a good half the album or so). But that’s not the only influence you’ll find, these guys have rocked a lot of off time metal bands. It’s clear in their use of guitar lines, spastic, all over the fret board, breaking with no rhyme or reason. The Cast Pattern are not newcomers to this genre of music, this band is legit.
As this album moves from track to track, each song is packed with blistering guitar riffs, impeccable drumming, and devastating vocals.. The one thing void from the album is lyrical quality. The songs are well written musically but the lyrics are very mediocre. That’s nothing that a few days in a library and more thought can’t fix though. For a first official release, The Cast Pattern has shown their capability to be on the level of Burnt By the Sun, Coalesce, Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza, and all the other big guns. They’ve got some things they need to tweak, but everyone has some growing to do.
~ Derek
May 09 2008 |
