source	creator	size
kerrang	dave everley	KKKK

 

 

the modern age: envelope-pushing six-tracker from youthful brit iconoclasts

 

there’s talking about putting your balls on the line, and then there’s actually going out and doing it.  a couple of weeks ago, in these very pages, miocene stuck the knife into on of metal’s most sacred cows.  the gist of what they said was simple: ozzy osbourne was responsible for everything that was wrong with metal in 2002.  depending on whether you agree with them or not, the fact that they dared suggest something like this was either very stupid or very brave.

 

but then miocene suddenly seem to have turned into a brave band, and not just because of their proclamations.  “cellular memory” – a six track, 40-minute effort that’s being billed as an EP but which amounts to so much more than that – is the follow up to 2000’s “refining the theory” mini-album.  that record was a half-hearted attempt to step away from the nu-metal hordes that didn’t work – it was portentous, pretentious and far too indebted to the billowing artistry of tool for comfort.

 

“cellular memory”, on the other hand, sounds like the work of an entirely different band.  miocene have ditched the four-square conventions of rock in favour of an altogether more skewed approach.  there’s nothing so obvious as verse-chorus-verse here;  instead, the likes of “katie sierra” and “tradition is another word” throb and pulsate across largely vocal-free backdrops that owe more to the visionary noises of the aphex twin or u-ziq than they do black sabbath’s.  and then towering above it all, is “why metal sucks in 2002” (answer. “it’s the money”).  a perfectly balanced  mix of jazz and electronica, it’s miocene’s musical and philosophical manifesto in a nutshell.

 

as the band themselves acknowledge, this isn’t perfect, no amount of sonic squiggles can disguise the fact that “state of flux” and “for the collective habit” still come on like diet tool.  but “cellular memory” sees miocene stepping away from the herd and heading off on their own.  and for that, if nothing else, they should be applauded.