An Explanation. And Review: The Grumpy - The Throes of Contemplation

Before I start I should probably explain myself, to anyone who has followed my blog in the past few months, it's been forever since I've done any reviews. That's not without reason, but I do feel like I've been slacking. Since about March, I've been involved in opening a guitar shop, which pretty much meant no time for writing for way too long. But now, for a while, I've started again, and without further ado, I'd like to introduce to you, the reader, a little three piece out of Sacramento: The Grumpy.

Citing influences from Rush, to Tool, to Death, to even Miles Davis, My Chemical Romance, and Mr. Bungle, I had no idea what to expect, as my introduction to the band was literally The Throes of Contemplation EP. Which I might add is the band's fifth release to date. Anything this band could create would be likely to surprise me, and that's exactly what they managed to do.

It starts out with "Change", a very riffy, stylistically aggressive track. I won't lie, initially I was a little afraid in the opening seconds, due to the slightly rough sounding distortion tone, but that was completely turned around when the song really started going. I ended up being rather impressed, mostly due to the perfection of the instrumental work for the sound trying to be created. The vocals also fit for the style, although I will admit, the vocal rhythm very occasionally catches the listener by surprise.

The second track, "Tastic", takes a completely different turn. The intro, with only vocals and percussion, creates this kind of intensity. Unfortunately what it is met with is fairly anticlimactic. What a listener will notice, however is the very Rush-styled influence that is noticeable after the intro. Again, my favorite aspect is the instrumental work, with is pretty much flawless. In this track, the vocals are far less suiting, unfortunately, as it seems to come across as a second-rate Rob Halford at first listen.

Now I'll only touch upon one more track on The Throes of Contemplation because, as a 6 track EP, I feel the need to leave something to the imagination. The last one I'll look at is my favorite from the release, "Fuzz." The amount of contrasting influence in this track is actually quite astounding, starting out like a typical slower Pearl Jam track, spot on even down to the vocals. Very 90s, nice throwback sound. Then suddenly there's a break into the chorus that musically bridges a gap between 90s alternative in the vocals and.... thrash metal riffs? Yeah, that's exactly what it is, and as odd as it may sound, but it works perfectly.

I'm torn about this release. Some of it is excellent, and those tracks really stood out. Some, on the other hand just fall short, coming across as average or in some cases, slightly less so. The instrumentation was consistently on point, which is a plus -- there's no mistaking the talent in this band. The vocals... anywhere from "eh, not too bad" to near perfection. Overall, this band is full of surprises. In my opinion, it's occasionally to a fault, but I'll let the listener ultimately decide that for themselves.