BEACHER „This Elegy, His Autopsy”

Music: Mathcore/Noisecore
Country: England
Website: http://www.beecher-online.com
Duration: 42.16


Cool Songs: It’s Good Weather for Black Leather, Function! Function!, …And on the Day That He Became a Human Plumb Line, Psycho Galvanic Skin Response, I Won’t Miss or Be Missed, Reach up to the Gods

There are some albums that deserve a warning sticker; horrendously bad ones (insert your choice here) and those likely to set your speakers on fire. Leave that last honour to UK Mathcore exponents ‘Beecher’.

Having signed to the mighty Earache Records who re-released their 2003 ‘Breaking The Fourth Wall’ album as a belated introduction to the extreme music world, Beecher’s new one ‘This Elegy, His Autopsy’ is about to push their profile to a whole new level. Essentially, not a hell of lot has changed to their overall sound – it is still very much rooted in that technical, tear your head off chaotic math rock/Noisecore style, but just much more focused and diverse than previous efforts.

Be assured also that any sort of calls of Beecher as being a noisier ‘metalcore’ act is way off the mark. As far as I am concerned, Beecher has always played a different game – theirs is a heavily progressive approach built upon the pioneering belligerence of Converge and Coalesce before them. There is nothing conventional about their song writing and as a result, the unexpected twists and turns that this new album offers up make it a very exciting listen.

‘This Elegy, His Autopsy’ continues Beecher’s penchant for following the ‘all-encompassing’ attitude that so marked their song writing on ‘Breaking…’, but this time there just seems to be MORE or everything. It’s still not the easiest of listening experiences, but subsequent spins will reveal a superior emotional impact. Depth is probably the word I’m looking for and as a result, the time changes, the speed tempos and melodic elements hit with even greater power and overwhelming intensity. And whilst the technical/chaotic nature of their music is patently obvious throughout its entire length, each track has this unique individual quality about them. That ain’t easy folks!

Produced by Converge’s Kurt Ballou, you know that this album will sound like the proverbial bulldozer – it is disarmingly abrasive whilst also capturing greater emotive warmth during the lighter, harmonic moments. More noticeable is the improved vocal performance of frontman Edward Godby. The cleaner (and more unconvincing) sections of ‘Breaking…’ didn’t quite work for me in that they smacked of being too generic, but on ‘This Elegy..’ there seems to a greater emphasis on the harsher approach and any melodic forays have almost been dispensed with or just become much smoother and varied in delivery.

Yep, just like ‘Breaking..’ there is an urgency and abandoned risk taking throughout this new disc – the clincher is that this gets better with every listen (and a good half dozen run throughs will be needed), it has a shit load more depth and variation whilst maintaining that essential Mathcore ‘fuck with your head’ complexity. You like the head space that Dillinger, Botch and Converge revolve in; you like Beecher!

note: Quote: 8.2

Tracklist

It’s Good Weather for Black Leather
Function! Function!
The Womaniser and the Alcoholic
Knight and Arsonist
Not Guilty
…And on the Day That He Became a Human Plumb Line
Psycho Galvanic Skin Response
Man the Traps
Brown Eyes (No Name)
The Biting Cold
I Won’t Miss or Be Missed
Happiness
Reach up to the Gods