BEECHER - Resention Is A Big Word In A Small Town

BEECHER
Resention Is A Big Word In A Small Town
In At The Deep End Records - 2004
4/10




Clocking in at just less than thirty minutes, this MCD gives you a pretty good idea of what Beecher is all about. The band puts forth some tremendous riffs and interesting tempo changes.

Having said that, Ed Godby’s high-end screeching becomes irritating very quickly. He simply lacks power in his screams, causing the bands thick, gigantic riffs to become ineffective. Godby sounds more like a chicken clucking away than a ballsy ‘core singer (and yes, one must have balls to sing core music). The jazzy beats put forth by Will Shaw in “Megadrive vs. SNES” are phenomenal, ranking with some of the most interesting beats of the year, but the clucking spoils the fun.

Godby doesn’t fare so well when attempting melodic vocals either, often coming in off key and sounding somewhat tone deaf in general. The instrumentation on this record is fantastic and all of these songs would be killer if there wasn’t some mousy fellow screaming “Fuck you” over top of it in that clucky, squeaky voice.

It is even respectable to consider that Godby might just be trying to sound a little different, but it simply does not work. Shaw, on the other hand is an explosive, absolutely rocking drummer, so in that fact, you may find some small solace. The bottom line is that Godby needs to seriously rethink the silly vocal approach if this band ever intends on being much more than an amusing novelty.

Watch for these guys to release an album for Earache Records soon, maybe Godby will get some goddamn grapes by that time.

By: Hardcore Jill