Schizocentral Music Review
Millimeters Mercury, "Turbo"
by eZe/LDeZe: Millimeters Mercury is a band that I've heard of for quite awhile, but just recently got into...and what a perfect time for me to start listening to these guys, right when their newest album "Turbo" hits the stands. It's got a lot of great songs and...well, let's just jump right into it.
Instrumentation/CompositioneZe: I'm going to leave most of this to LD, but as an amateur I can say that this album is amazing, musically speaking. The chords are difficult and the composition of the songs themselves are varied and complicated. Not to mention of course that it all rocks my socks off. The one sour note on the album comes at the very end with the song "The Rocktopotamus Theme". It's not really a bad song, but compared to the others on the album, the lyrics and music are just not up to par with the rest.
LD: Mathiest. Rock. Ever. Well, maybe not "ever", but these guys could easily form a progressive rock band if they found a vocalist who could sing notes through like 6 octaves. But we don't really need that...I think too many people's heads would explode. Ok, so lets go through the instruments:
Bass guitar (Gabe mcElwain) - He's all over the thing like white on rice. He varies up his style from straight rock bass to little hints of jazz and funky stuff, with nothing too simple. Great stuff.
Guitar 1 (Robert Voyer) - Pretty much the same thing. He can move his fingers fast (and FAR across the frets from what I've seen at the live shows) with limited to no mistakes.
Guitar 2 (Travis Carter) - Same deal. Amazing stuff. When you have two guitarists that can play both lead and rhythm very well, you got it made.
Drums (Chris Vlasses) - This guy is an animal. I really dig his style, and his skills surpass many of the current indie rock drummers.
Together, the band creates music that I think can be most appreciated by guitarists. This is music that isn't only listened to for sound pleasure, but also to be studied. It's the type of music that you want to pick apart and really see what the hell each instrument is doing to put together such an interesting sound. If this doesn't sound like fun to you, then you may not enjoy the CD as much as I do.
Lyrics/VocalseZe: The lyrics, although conveying standard themes such as love lost and dissatisfaction with American culture, are well put together and thought-provoking. And rarely have I heard a band that can harmonize as well as mmHg. They boast 4 musicians that could all probably be lead singers of bands in their own right. They pass the singing duties around as well, which creates a very pleasing effect: you never get bored with the vocals. For examples of this check out "consumer catalog", "k.o.star", and "truth in advertising".
LD: The only thing that I somewhat disagree with is this sentence: "And rarely have I heard a band that can harmonize as well as mmHg". I agree that every band member can sing very well, and the harmonies they do are good, but I think the band seems to excel more on their instrumentation than their vocals.
OveralleZe: Millimeters Mercury has definitely come a long way from "The Mobius Trip" (their debut that I listened to while writing the review for "Turbo"). Their music is tighter, their lyrics and vocals are better, and they sound like an all-around more well put together group of rockers. This album is amazing.
LD: I concur.
eZe: PS -- I'd like to make an extra note about this album, and it's something I wouldn't normally review: the way this album was designed and put together. SOMEHOW, mmHg found a bunch of old 5 1/4 inch floppy disks (with diskette cases!). They then slit the side of the disks, dropped the CD in, and slipped the whole thing (with lyric booklet/insert) into the cases! The design of this CD is one of the most amazing, original, and awesome ideas I have ever witnessed. It's on my coffee table just so I can show it to people. No, really.
LD: I concur.
eZe: PPS -- also, if you ever get the chance, see these guys live. consider. face. rocked.
eZe: 9/10
LD: 7/10