Senser - How to do battle [Album]
 

"How to do Battle" is the forth musical release from the UK’s very own Senser and is an album that is a little bit surprising to say the least. When researching this band in order to write this review my attention was drawn to their website (obviously), With the news page showing a feed regarding an interview on Bruce Dickinson’s Radio 6 show. Immediately I assumed that they were going to be a Metal band. I was soon to find that it’s not quite that simple.

Senser seem to have their musical ideas rooted in a lot of genres. The second you hit play on "How To Do Battle" you are thrown into a heavy metal guitar riff and the aforementioned Bruce Dickinson interview started to make sense. I will warn you however that this opener (not including the album intro) is rather deceiving. Aside from a few guitar riffs sprinkled with a number of pinched harmonics, this almost instantly morphs into something very similar to the new metal genre we experienced at the turn of the century.

I am a big fan of both Metal and Rap/Hip-Hop as individual genres, but unfortunately they very rarely appeal to me as a musical collaboration (Linkin Park and Jay-z creating "Collision Course" would be my number one culprits in this argument). I will say that this album did explore a more intense side of both genres, giving it a bit more of a non-mainstream feel. That said though I did feel that the intro was very misleading as mentioned, as it deteriorated afterwards almost entirely into a Hip-hop record.

I will say that "How To Do Battle" is a good musical creation from a music creator/producers point of view but I do feel that the way that it was put together and marketed could have been handled a little better. If you were a fan of Rage Against The Machine in their hay-day then maybe you would find this a good listen but it probably would have worked a little better if it weren’t so focused on the Rap/Hip-hop side of things.

Re: Senser - How to do battle [Album]
 

Hmm. My least favourite review of yours to date. Sounds like you were too concerned with your initial misconception that you didn't give it a fair chance maybe?

How can you not like Rage Against the Machine? If these guys sound as good as them I reckon it might be quite a good album then. Also, I have a friend who is a good music head and I trust his ear and he is super excited with fresh Hip Hop like Sage Francis etc (who if you have never checked out you should) and he is mad about these guys so I reckon they might be worth more than your score.

Your opinion is your opinion though and it didn't float your boat I think I might check it out still for my own reasons.

Re: Senser - How to do battle [Album]
 

Yeah i guess it was kida overshadowed by the fact that it took me by surprise i guess. But i dont think i liked it all that much anyway.

As for Rage, I love them, Its just i tried to use them as an example of how it should be done, and how there guys sound like they done it a little in the wrong direction. Prob worth checking out to see what i mean though really

Re: Senser - How to do battle [Album]
 

I tell you what - you wouldn't expect a band like this to have a Maria McKee look-a-like with a poodle perm in it.

Re: Senser - How to do battle [Album]
 

Listening to the track 'Resistance Now' I get more of an Anthrax vs Public Enemy - 'Bring the noise' feel to it, for the most part, rather than a Linkin Park and Jay-z atmosphere.
the thing that annoys me the most about it is the female singer. Her voice is a bit weak and gets lost in the noisy guitars. It would have been much stronger if she'd had a more powerful voice, but her bits just seem to fade into the distance.

Also, each song seems to start as hip-hop-rock and progress to metal, in the exact same formula for each song.