Band
Jaw
Title
Jaw
Type
LP/EP
Company
Independent
YOR
2004
Style
Heavy/Extreme
Popular Reviews
Jaw S/T 2003 Reversed Records Reviewed by: Nailer
Track Listing1. Kin 2. Confetti Rains 3. Sympathy 4. Forty Four Seconds 5. The Calm
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Most of the metal I listen to can be dropped into one of the main genres (death, power, black) fairly easily, but the 5-song EP from Canadian band Jaw is quite different. It's easily the most unique metal CD I've heard this year.
Lyrically, standard writing is set aside for bleak stream of consciousness phrases strung together like this:
"The calm's breathing...lie to all my faces...look back at me...I fear freedom...fall backwards...and you...no...don't touch me...no...not alive...no...heart beating...no...waiting for me...."
On first listen, there's no way to predict which way the songs will go. Emmanuel Olorewaju slurs first-person gutteral yells over top of deep slabs of guitar work from Jason Dokken--no similarity to the other band sharing his name--whose playing is essentially non-melodic, metalcore-styled, foundation riffs that back up the angry vocals. It might not be such a interesting CD were it not for the vocals which range from drunken hollering to Eddie Vedder slurring that layers in and out of the songs.
Certainly it's fresh for the field, but the innovation Jaw is giving may be too much for conservative metal audiences and more for the new millennium headbanger. Listening to Jaw is like watching an autistic person hitting themself over and over and over.
Bottom Line: The music itself should appeal to modern fans of hardcore/metalcore, but the primal vocals are strangely delivered and a toss-up.
--Nailer 05.25.04