distinguished revue for february the third, two thousand four.

MYOPIA
DANCING ON LANDMINES
CDN, 2003
 
The vocals on this album, I have to say, are weird.  They're typical death metal grunts, but vocalist "Mister Nasty" has this inflection that puts focus on the "e" every time he grunts the vowel long.  It sounds like he's calling a pig.  "COME HERE SUEEEEEEY, HEEEERE PIGGY PIGGY PIGGEEEEEEEEE!"  It's a little off-putting but I guess I have to live with it every time I listen to Dancing On Landmines.  I just don't think hog-rustling is metal enough, though.
 
Anyway, Myopia is a death metal band from Vancouver (yeah, I thought that was weird too) playing death metal with more realistic lyrics than usual.  The lyrics are not on a par with Shakespeare, no one was expecting that, but they're surprisingly good for the genre.  Pessimistic they are, yes, but they're well-done and well up the negative emotions as only extreme metal lyrics can do.  The music is technically oriented and complex but still brings the brutality, although the production seems a little dry.  Personally, I felt this was a decent enough album and it has its moments of greatness even though the album can at times get repetitive.  I can't tell if the lyrics are tongue-in-cheek, though.  Seth Putnam and Billy Milano are listed as "lyrical inspiration," so it's hard to tell what side of the fence Myopia is on lyrically.  Still, Dancing On Landmines is a very good death metal album and the band has an obvious future (especially with regards to the great *cough* Canadian extreme music scene.)  Also, if they're being as jokey as I think they are they've done it in a subtle way and that's fucking hard to do.  Kudos to Myopia for throwing a curveball at my head.
 
By the way, they are some bonus tracks at the end of this album.  I'm not going to spoil them for you, but you will love them...I mean really love 'em, heh heh.  Oh, and the artwork on this album features a lot of nuclear explosions.  How can you go wrong?
 
MYOPIA
1137 Renfrew Street
Vancouver, BC
V5K 4C1
CANADA
[email protected]
 
CDN RECORDS
c/o Craig Newman
12 Francis St.
Cottam, ON
N0R 1B0
CANADA
http://www.cdnrecords.com/
[email protected]