A year ago… Two record execs discuss the next Glass Cloud release.
“The Royal Thousand was awesome. What can we do to fuck up the next release?”
“I know! Joshua Travis should just dj0nt instead of sounding like Joshua Travis. The kids love that shit. Who needs frets or melody when you have nine strings? Also that Jerry Roush guy should stop singing like Celine Dion and just talk about how much he hates himself.”
Yeeeeeah. That scenario was obviously made up but it might as well be true.
It’s safe to say Glass Cloud’s 2012 debut “The Royal Thousand” was a success. It brought heaviness, some forward thinking, bitter technicality, and absolute creativity while staying accessible to a quickly growing modern metal crowd. Several stand out moments lined the duration, bending minds and steadily building a fanbase beyond those brought in by Joshua Travis (ex-Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza) and Jerry Roush (ex-Sky Eats Airplane).
Soon after, anticipation was mounting to see what they would pull out next. This became especially true when Joshua Travis dropped the final Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza album last year, leaving the Danzanites starving for more content from their savior.
And then the announcement was made. A new EP, “Perfect War Forever”, would be coming soon. With said announcement came a single, “Trapped Like Rats”. While slightly enjoyable and maybe even impressive in the realm of 0000000, it didn’t really live up to expectations. But there was still hope…
And as usual, hope leads to disappointment. Turns out “Perfect War Forever” doesn’t hold a candle to it’s predecessor. It’s really kind of a shame to see a band with so much potential turn in the bulk of their creativity and musicality to sound like just about every other chugfest band out there. Not to say there wasn’t plenty of chugfestin’ on “The Royal Thousand”, but not nearly on the same scale as “Perfect War Forever”. The first three tracks, “Trapped Like Rats”, “I Dug A Grave”, and “How To Survive Suicide” do exactly that. Interesting moments do pop up here and there. For example, low toned singing and melody peep in on “How To Survive Suicide” and Mr. Travis always has the ability to do something awesome on his guitar. But it’s nothing to get truly excited over in this case.
Luckily, the tune does change a bit on the last two tracks, “Soul Is Dead” and “Lilac”. Introduced and closed by the bells toll, “Soul Is Dead” is easily among the best this EP has to offer. It expands a bit beyond the 00000 assault to wake you up. Especially when it rips out a crazy Danza-esque riff around 1:25 which will make your ears say, “thank god… finally”. “Lilac” is probably the best track on “Perfect War Forever”. It’s just plain filthy in it’s heavy attacks, adding in mathcore elements and some energy. It’s also one of the only two tracks to feature clean vocals.
On another positive note, I’m sure these songs are a ridiculously fun live. Though I can’t vouch for that.
To sum things up… if you’re a straight up djent kid, your dreams may have just come true. But if you’re looking for something more / if you’re a fan of the band’s previous work, this will most likely leave you disappointed. All in all, this is a mediocre experience with some redeeming elements. Personally, listening to “Perfect War Forever” just makes me want to listen to “The Royal Thousand” instead. But I’m still looking forward to the future possibilities of Glass Cloud.
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