Album title:
Battle Hymns for a new Republic
Artist:
Plate Six
Label:
Bent Rail
Do you ever listen to bands and wonder what one of the members is doing there? Like, maybe the other members don't like his contributions but he's too nice to break the news to... or maybe he owns the studio they play in. With Plate Six, it's the vocalist. He can't sing, he can't convey any kind of emotion and at his very worst, sounds like he belongs in one of those godawful Victory Records hardcore bands. This is a real shame, because the sonic ferocity of Plate Six is formidable: psychedelic sludge-punk rock with big crunch, epic build-ups and delirious vertigo inducing riffs. The weakness of the vocals is accentuated by the fact that they always come in at the right moments and the words are right, but there just isn't the ability or strength to achieve the money shot. [Ali Maloney]