Like Animals
Feral

Canadian band Like Animals are back with a new wildly themed EP, their fifth if I understand the information correctly. The EP is called Feral and it has a slightly strange artwork and then I can see myself imagining that they have a somewhat strange name, but then again why not have a name that stands out? On this little EP we get five tracks that range from the feral things to a jungle book of love – that sounds very exciting to mot, but is it?

Musically it is a bit imaginative and not that genre bound, something that always is a plus in my books. A bit spastic mathematic metal is a way to describe it, the label does. If I imagine them compared with another band it would be Meshuggah but in a more commercial outfitting and slightly more chaotic; that is for those of you who desire the pointless dropping of name. The sound is interesting, it sounds a bit dated without really sounding dated – I would say that that is a fascinating approach to your soundscape. The EP is relatively varied but it still feels like they hold back a little bit and I sense that they could act out a little more to be more spastic and dramatic but I still promise that you won’t grow tired of this EP very easily.

As for how I would rate this EP; I think that it is difficult as you have to weigh it against the similar but also the whole area of music we review and in this case it is rather difficult considering that they don’t really completely conform to any established style. The latter is of course very positive but it is not really everything as there are other views to take into account as well and one is the fact about how positive the songs make you feel and on that front I think they are slightly off target. I think they hold too much back and could have been going much madder with their music. They manage to be exciting stylistically but at the same time they also manage to be predictable, that is a strange paradox that dampen my enthusiasm towards this EP considerably.

Nevertheless, I still like this; it is interesting and fairly entertaining even though it isn’t as dramatic as I feel it could have been. The best track is the opening track Feral that sets a good tone but one that the EP don’t quite manage to follow up. For you who like to move outside the well-established rules of the genres it is an album I really recommend you take a look at and I think I should look closer at what this band has done before as I will be very surprised if they don’t have some fantastic pieces of music in their catalogue. This EP is great but it still lacks something which is why my rating ends up in the middle of the scale.

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