Altsounds - Iwrestledabearonce - It's All Happening [Album]

In a world where electro pop like La Roux tends to be the norm and a world where bands like BrokenCYDE corrupt the charts with their attempts at getting 'down with the kids' (granted the latter are virtually kids but still) there are some bands that prove that music can still be creative.

Iwrestledabearonce (and yes that's how the name is supposed to look) show this creativeness with their use of samples which first became prominent in their 2007 EP (samples from Clerks, Super Mario Bros and Scary Movie to name three).

Sample use however is not the main forte of this band and 'It's All Happening' proves this with the blast beat drums of Mical Montgomery being used for the first time on record (the 2007 EP used a drum machine as IWABO stated on a Myspace blog) along with the thrash style of John Ganey and Steve Bradley's guitars and the low rumbling bass of Dave Branch.

The element though that will have everyone that listens to them perking up their ears in joy or "WTF" at the surprise (least at first) is the vocals of Krysta Cameron and how diverse they can get, one moment there's a banshee growl akin to the vocalist of Arch Enemy, the next moment the voice sounds similar to a singer you'd find on a more mainstream metal record. This gives the voice a true angel/devil vibe that not many vocalists can achieve.

Lyrics wise they may seem slightly nonsensical but the style reminds me personally of a cross between Hunter S Thompson and imagery that is like a David Lynch film ("I'm cold and there are wolves after me" being a perfect example and the song title being a line from the Springfield files episode of the Simpsons also makes me chuckle, geeky I know!)

For a debut full length "It's All Happening" did not disappoint at all and I for one am looking forward to seeing them live come November to see what madness they can cook up next!

Highly recommended to fans of a mixture of metal styles and female vocals in metal.