Quell - One Man's Struggle With
The English Language - Goodfellow Records 2005
10 Songs
Running Time: 37:58
When one thinks of North Carolina,
somehow, the term "tech-core" gets lost amid the tobacco
farms and tractor pulls. Yet up from those weed-choked
fields comes Quell. Formed from the debris of A
Kiss Before Dying and Andrea's Truth, Quell have
made a name for themselves by securing opening slots for
touring bands as diverse as Daughters and Sworn Enemy.
And thus, it comes to this...the debut album. Having never
heard of this band or its progenitors beforehand, and based
on the minimalist artwork, I was able to press the Play
button with no expectations or reservations.
Thank God I was, too. Vocally, Quell leaps from the
gnarled fury of CurlUpAndDie to a subdued drone with
abandon. It's just not wise to sing with glass marbles in
your mouth, but Quell crushes the orbs to shards,
shards to slivers, then spits them out into your eardrums,
going for broke or not at all. So comfortable do they seem
with their music, that when a slightly Swedish-sounding metal
riff shows up just over a minute into 'Final Transaction
And End Balance', it somehow seems natural. The musical wrecking
ball never lets up until the fifth song, and even then, the
melody of 'Mindset Of The Average (Person/Culture/Nation/Father)'
is scattershot with angular leads and tempos that spin like
the hurricane winds for which their area of the country is
known. Quell pile on the hooks as well, which works
to their favour, and puts them closer to the head of the
pack in the race to be the next Insert Popular Band Name
Here. Not that I feel they're trying for that specific goal,
but with the clobbering riff of 4:18-4:35 segueing into a
nearly metalcore coda from 4:45-5:00, and both being memorable
as all Hell, I could see this band's fanbase growing leaps
and bounds if they can get in front of the right ears. Though
a lowly instrumental, the ninth song here stands out, being
a study in How To Fuck With People's Heads 101. Beginning
with a musical phrase looping through your consciousness,
soon the beating begins, and the sound of the impact is the
sound of your speakers imploding in self-defense. Seriously.
Of course, just when you resign yourself to your bruised
and bloody fate, a solo piano calmly takes the song to it's
end, albeit backed by fractured effects and washes of indecipherable
shouts (feedback?). In the music of Quell, the voice
becomes such a part of the song as to be seen as simply another
instrument, another gear in the machine.
I won't go so far as to say Quell is "The Next Big
Thing", but I will say this for them. With One Man's Struggle... , Quell have
crafted an album as enjoyable to listen to as it is genuinely
dangerous. And that, my slide-rule loving friends, is an
art.
www.goodfellowrecords.com |
