It's hard to pigeonhole Under-Radio, probably a good thing, but yet several things come to mind. There is the technicality of progressive rock/metal and the musicianship to match; the crunching guitars and soloing to compliment; a songwriting balancing act that treads the thin line between short concepts and pop sensibility; and it's all wrapped up in sub-slick production. You really couldn't call this record metal, the crunch is there but the thickness of a balls-to-the-wall guitar sound isn't, the record is also too progressive to be just straight-ahead melodic hard rock.
A project of Matt Zimmerman that features both Gregg and Matt Bissonette (drums and bass, respectively), Mark Zonder (also playing drums on one cut), vocalist Robbie Wyckoff, and guest violinist James Sudakow, the basis of
Bad Heir Ways tends to be the incorporation of sub avant-garde arrangements copulated with pop songwriting, rather than being too slick with overzealous production.
Beginning with the grove driven title track, it almost is like the record itself is moving towards a technical stance that belongs in mainstream hard rock, and if that's what was being shot for, who better to lead that sound. There is not much consistency in this record, which makes for the lack of redundancy, which is a good thing. Many songs express an emotion, especially with heavy cuts such as the sitar driven
"Centerpiece" and
"Build a Monument" among others, not to mention that the folk-acoustic blues of
"1916," the blues rock of
"Devil from a Midwest Town" which even has a Stevie Ray Vaughan guitar feel to it, and the acoustic ballad
"You won't see..." shows other sides Zimmerman and Co.
Overall, it's basically the hard rock of Alice in Chains and Audioslave meeting the metal stance of Union and the technicalities King's X. In the end, it's a good record for both the metal and rock world.
Written by
Hashman Monday, June 14, 2004
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