Album Review: Dr. Acula - Slander

Dr Acula, signed to Victory Records, describe themselves as ‘Party Grind’. Slander draws from Hardcore, Grindcore, Metal and any other ‘cores journo’s can come up with. I know what you’re thinking. "Oh good, another hardgrindmetalcore band to add to the list"; this isn’t the case. Dr Acula manage to be more innovative than most in an area plagued by convention and expectations.

So what can we make of all this ‘Party Grind’? The album opens up with a telephone conversation between two girls having an argument. From this point, you realise these aren’t guys who take themselves too seriously. 'Fire Crotch (The Veneral Van Ride)' smacks you into things, with the two vocalists bouncing off each other, with great vocal variety. The shouted lyrics are easily understood, showing off their interesting and imaginative lyrics.

Many of the tracks feature audio clips from films and other sources, which I felt was a bit cheesy or overdone. Breaks in tracks like 'Welcome To Camp Nightmare' featuring long recordings over subdued drums and simple guitar, which is too much of a cliché in this genre for me. They pull it back somewhat, as everything comes smashing back in, and you know a trusty beat down is just around the corner.

Each track has a unique tone to it, and although featuring the classic elements like atonal guitar riffs and spacious beat downs, the added qualities like electronics and detailed structure brings this to the forefront on this jam packed genre.

'Cocaine Avalanche' switches things about a bit, bringing a more Southern Rock style, with sing along choruses; a far cry from the other earlier tracks. 'Party 2.0' even includes a "TITS!" chanting section, which I’m sure would be pretty intense live.

Reminding me at times to the likes of SikTh and Norma Jean, Dr Acula have managed to make hardcore that has the conventions, but with a few twists that make it that little different. I felt the film quotes at the beginning/wherever they could squeeze them did start to drag, as they lost their effect and just got mundane at times. It’s obvious these guys are here to party, and it’s nice to hear a band not taking things too seriously.

3.5/5

'Slander' by Dr. Acula is released on February 15th through Victory Records.

Dr. Acula on MySpace, Facebook, Purevolume, Twitter.

Mark Allen