The Rodeo Idiot Engine

Consequences

Written by: PP on 03/01/2014 00:23:27

Two years ago I ran into a band called The Rodeo Idiot Engine from Spain on their album "Fools Will Crush The Crown", or rather, they ran into me with the force and momentum of an uncontrollable freight train with a mathcore expression that was pure insanity to listen to. It was heavily inspired by Botch records, so it shared a similarly tearing and ripping feel as the intricate guitar work exploded in all directions at once, only to return to its source in an equally chaotic and angular manner.

"Consequences" is an entirely different beast altogether. It sounds like a record put together by a group that wanted to grow as musicians and decided that pure chaos and mathcore is not the holy grail in music. Don't get me wrong, it is still a chaotic record, but the insane go-all-directions mathcore that dominated the previous record has been largely replaced by brooding darkness and direction change towards blackened hardcore. This time, bands like Converge and perhaps even our very own The Psyke Project seem to have been an influence, as the songs come across as more contrived and structured in their manner, despite carrying the characteristic intensity and urgency as these type of records usually do. There's also some crust involved, and generally the focus has shifted away from destroying things into millions of pieces into assembling genuine moods, atmospheres, and ambiance.

There are exceptions, though. After a lengthy intro, "Mass Grave" explodes into mathcore-ish insanity, and "Spitting" tears wide open with its chaotic instrumentation, but even in these tracks the changes are easily noticeable, and the Converge influence very clear. To say it feels like your head is being forced through a cheese grater wouldn't be an understatement. But just as the new songs demonstrate the band as better songwriters technically, I keep returning to the old work for my fix of the unpredictable insanity that you just couldn't tell where it would take you next. Here, the brooding blackened hardcore is so similar to so many other bands it's difficult to find any identity in it. That's ironic considering first album was a basically Botch clone, but it grabbed its listener better in this scribe's opinion.

6

Download: Candor, Life Sentence, Mass Grave
For the fans of: Converge, The Psyke Project
Listen: Facebook

Release date 15.09.2013
Throatruiner Records

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