The Trees are Dried Out, Wait for Something Wild ...

Sikth is, literally, exactly what you'd get if you combined System of a Down and Every Time I Die, then made them play progressive metal with a hefty helping of weird avant garde thrown in. This is, straight up, some of the craziest music I have heard this year, and I loved every minute of it! When I first started writing my notes on this album, I wanted to start berrading it as a throwback to 1999 when nu-metal was raging in the United States, because that is what it initially sounds like. However, as I continued to listen, I realized this album was further away from nu-metal than regular metal is. Sikth, while harnessing multiple influences across the musical platform, truly stand in a world of their own. Going from borderline thrash riffing in several songs, to a single voice bellowing out in a sad, pained, drunken stupor at the end of Can't We All Dream, to the beautiful piano of Emerson Pts. 1 and 2, to nu-metal rumblings in Hold My Finger, to kick ass progressive metal with some great bass twanging in Scent of the Obscene, to some stunning spoken poetry of When Will the Forest Speak, Sikth is not a band that can be pigeonholed in the genre scheme, infact, the music sounds like it is purposefully rebelling against the wall of mediocrity that comes with classifying music which is supposed to be artistic expression with no boundaries. If there was an ideal band to define artistic expression with no boundaries, Sikth would be that outfit. I was reading reviews about this album on Amazon.com after pricing out the album, when I realized every single review was 4 or 5 stars while only three reviewers gave it 1 and 2 stars respectfully. I thought this was interesting because between all the "WOW!'s" and "BUY. NOW.'s", there stood out like a sore thumb the titles "avoid like the plague", and "road fodder." On one of the reviews the guy suggests picking up the latest Clutch album, and in the other, the reviewer says to pick up Toxicity and Dillinger Escape Plan's Calculating Infinity instead of listening to Sikth. I find this humorous, because I enjoy Dillinger Escape Plan, but they are simply not as versatile as Sikth, despite being very technically inclined themselves. And System of a Down while having a very original sound, is not half as primal and crazy sounding vocally as Sikth is, despite the latter having alot of obivous influence from System. If this review is perking your attention yet, listen to the "WOW's", because the 3 reviews who viewed this album unfavorably don't seem to have the ears for this endeavor. This is definitely for those who go for the un-trodden path in the music world. Taking chances in the world of music is the only way to truly expand your horizons. If you are one of those metalheads who views "expanding your horizons" as a lame excuse to listen to your buddy's The Gathering collection, as opposed to waiting out the next Maiden or Priest, immediately disregard this review and remove it from your browser's history, and hell....remove your temp. internet files while your at it just to make sure. Sikth is reserved for those of us who appreciate weird music. For the few of us who appreciate the unorthodox, you will get goosebumps upon hearing this release for it will aurally pleasure you like none before it has.