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Glass Casket

A Desperate Man's Diary

Written by: PP on 11/12/2006 15:26:44

After a couple of good listens through Glass Casket's sophomore album "A Desperate Man's Diary", I remember myself thinking 'hey, this sounds an awful lot like Between The Buried And Me', and went on to investigate further. Not surprisingly, I found the Between The Buried And Me guitarist Dusty Waring and their drummer Blake Richardson behind this project as well.

The resemblance between the two bands is obvious and striking. Both carry an incredible amount of technicality and brutality combined with unexpected breakdowns, controversial time signatures and sudden changes in pace, tone and pitch throughout the record. But Glass Casket isn't simply a Between The Buried And Me clone, though, as they are perhaps slightly more simplistic and to the point, consequently lacking the sense of indescribably beautiful melody BTBAM resonate on, for instance, "Selkies: The Endless Obsession". Perhaps this is because both Dusty's and Blake's function in BTBAM is not to bring melody as much as to keep the metalheads nodding along to the furious breakdowns, the barrage of heavy-as-fuck riffs and the odd time signatures. Despite this, there are a few melodic passages scattered here and there across the album, but they are few and far between, and have been mostly replaced with the harsher, sharper, less melodic guitar experimentation than for instance on "The Primer". You can still distinctively recognize and understand Dusty's function in BTBAM in more detail, though, and Blake's rapid-fire, rhythm- and tempo-setting drumming is as original and phenomenal as it is on any BTBAM record.

However, where Glass Casket truly shines is on "Genesis", which brings the sharp, dynamic texture of the guitars forth the best, and the jazzy solos are as good as it's going to get on this album. The combination of pull-strings and powerful chords creates the kind of strangely melodic screeching noise that you can't help but have a love/hate relationship with. When all of this is complemented with the tight screams and growls of vocalist Adam Cody that aren't ashamed at all when placed next to those of Tommy Rogers, any Between The Buried And Me and any math/experimental metal fan should be sold.

In the end, "A Desperate Man's Diary" is like the little brother of "Alaska". It's angrier and more brutal, but won't get as easily heard and favorised over its more experimental and daring bigger brother. It doesn't quite reach the same heights as "Alaska"'s experimentation with different ends of the sonic scale, and could use a good deal more of breathing space, as many of the songs end up sounding too confined within their pretext instead of trying to expand on the borderline technical metal they've got going on here. But despite the battering your ears receive and the obvious side effect of losing peace in your mind for a long time, it is still a must-check for any BTBAM fan.

Download: Genesis
For the fans of: Between The Buried And Me
Listen: Myspace

Release date 27.10.2006
Abacus
Provided by Target ApS