SHATTERPOINT – Consequences

Shatterpoint is a Modern Power/Thrash Metal band from Toronto, Canada, made up of 4 chums who’s relationship goes back all the way to grade school. After many years of emulating their musical idols and dreaming of one day throwing their collective hats in the arena, these 4 musketeers formed the band in September 2001. Vocalist/guitarist Shane Drake has handled most of the musical compositions, and invokes a little help on the lyrics from lead guitarist Greg Wright, bass guitarist Chris Zeeman, and drummer Jeremy Baxter. In the band’s own words, the music on their debut release, Consequences, “…has been created through a mutual addiction to anger and aggression, forged with a strong appreciation for music, technique and progression…” Pretty well put, eh?

Consequences contains 6 tracks, and tallies up at about 30 minutes … by today’s standards, it’s kind of in the middle of what could be considered an EP vs. an LP. But, heck, Van Halen’s first album was only about 30 minutes long, and that went down as one of the most classic Hard Rock albums of all time … so I suppose it’s not at all about length that’s important (uh hem), it’s instead what you do with the time you have at hand!

WHAT’S GOOD

Shatterpoint has a great, brutal Metal sound. The whole album has a style to it that’s cross between Testament and Slipknot. Baxter sets the tone with his fist-pounding, bludgeoning drum playing, and the Wright/Drake guitar duo rips off the riffs and slices through the power chord schemes with crushing power. Likewise, Zeeman pumps through the bass lines with equal aggression and precision. Listening to Consequences can’t help but to get you fired up from the sound and playing style alone. Wisely, each of the songs on the album includes extended musical passages to indeed highlight both their skilled playing techniques and raw musical energy.

But that ain’t all … Drake sings both in semi-clean vocals and death vocals. His semi-clean vocals have a very “Modern Rock” feel to them and are really quite good, and his death vocals are similar in delivery to what you’d hear by Testament at times, or by Slipknot at other times. To the band’s credit, they were smart enough to keep the death vocals mixed at the “proper” volume to ensure the awesome musical sound of this album wasn’t compromised … yep, definitely a good move!

Additionally, the lyrics are surprisingly very well thought out and lucid. Quoting a few bars, the New York World Trade Center motivated “Crashing Down” contains plenty of reflective lines in similar ilk to this: “Until the end/You can take my life/Armed with pride/For those who died.” The melancholy and dark track, “Ended By Silence,” shows insightful futility when Drake writes: “Life is suffocating me/Nowhere to go, nothing to see/If I could see the end/Then I’d be free.” Lastly, “No Man’s Land,” a track that has a few Iron Maiden tendencies and ponders the nobility of war, states: “Bravery will mean shit when you are dead/Don’t be sucked into the lies you are fed/Don’t be fooled because alone you will stand/It’s all or nothing here in No Man’s Land.” All in all, it’s a refreshing encounter to stumble upon a band (a very young one at that) that actually has “something” to say, and has the writing skill set to articulate those thoughts, all the while being able to mesh them into a fairly complex musical framework.

WHAT’S LESS THAN GOOD

Out of the 6 tracks, 5 of them can be classified as solid songs … definitely above average. Funny, but the only weak link within Consequences is the title track. Musically, this song has less organization than the other 5 and simply has too many lyrics. As mentioned above, all the songs have extended musical jams, but this song waits too long to get on with that practice, and when the music takes center stage, it lacks the definitive direction of the others. Also, the band seems to be at its best when Drake is singing in a semi-clean vocal style. The death vocals aren’t awful, but Shatterpoint should consider the merits of leaning more towards the semi-clean side a bit more often next time around.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In sum, this is a very solid, HEAVY album. Shatterpoint, though currently operating without a recording contract, shows clearly in Consequences that they’re ready and capable to rub elbows with the major players in the Power/Thrash genre. If you’re not turned off by Testament/Slipknot/Pantera-like death vocals, pick this album up to play when you need a release from a rough day at work or at school. Shatterpoint makes “tough guy” bands Manowar sound like a bunch of choir boys, and will certainly not disappoint you in this, their debut release!