Top Stock Records
First things I thought when I listened to their MySpace site whilst waiting for the CD to arrive was that they sounded like Ugly Kid Joe vocally and looked like Limp Bizkit visually. Not a bad thing at all in the vocal department as I for one used to love Whitfield Crane’s vocals, not so sure about the graphics of the album though.
So I listen to the whole album as it arrives and the Ugly Kid Joe I noticed earlier has gone and replaced by the massive amounts of FX on the vocals. This to me is a bad thing production wise. The opening track “In my World” has a pretty interesting riff which is soaked to the bone by the vocal effects and it lacks lyrically.
As I listened to the rest of the tracks I found that the very 90's rock/metal sound was enjoyable and competent but was nothing original or special. As a band they defiantly wear their influences on their sleeves and for me it was in places too similar to other bands but not as good. Such as their Tool like moments which lack the complexity in rhythm of Tool themselves and also the depth. Perhaps in time and more releases later they will have honed their sound into something more original?
With tracks like “Asylum”, “Water it Down” and “Agrofist” they are on to a winner. Short and punchy tracks with good hooks really work well with their energetic 90’s sound. Tracks like “What Do You See” and “Still Me” are unnecessarily long in my opinion although it has moments of intensity I couldn’t even make it to the end of “What do you See” and judging by the plays on their MySpace I'm not the only one.!
To round up. Sizen is a good, stock Rock/Metal band with some strong ideas pulled from the 90's era of MTV music. I doubt they would disappoint on a live stage but I think they need to move forward with new ideas to gain any real momentum.
So I listen to the whole album as it arrives and the Ugly Kid Joe I noticed earlier has gone and replaced by the massive amounts of FX on the vocals. This to me is a bad thing production wise. The opening track “In my World” has a pretty interesting riff which is soaked to the bone by the vocal effects and it lacks lyrically.
As I listened to the rest of the tracks I found that the very 90's rock/metal sound was enjoyable and competent but was nothing original or special. As a band they defiantly wear their influences on their sleeves and for me it was in places too similar to other bands but not as good. Such as their Tool like moments which lack the complexity in rhythm of Tool themselves and also the depth. Perhaps in time and more releases later they will have honed their sound into something more original?
With tracks like “Asylum”, “Water it Down” and “Agrofist” they are on to a winner. Short and punchy tracks with good hooks really work well with their energetic 90’s sound. Tracks like “What Do You See” and “Still Me” are unnecessarily long in my opinion although it has moments of intensity I couldn’t even make it to the end of “What do you See” and judging by the plays on their MySpace I'm not the only one.!
To round up. Sizen is a good, stock Rock/Metal band with some strong ideas pulled from the 90's era of MTV music. I doubt they would disappoint on a live stage but I think they need to move forward with new ideas to gain any real momentum.

