Review: Half Gramme Of Soma ‘Slip Through The Cracks’
On first impression this band is intriguing, starting with their name, album title and cover. It would seem that Half Gramme Of Soma are a band that wants to play some mind games while rocking out.
The first track, Muck & Cheese, seamlessly moves from the mind-melting intro to sink into a groove which drops off at a harder, more straightforward chorus. A faster and grungier bridge finds the middle ground between hard and trippy, with great use of effects. This song holds the attention and flows very naturally from one section to another.
Voyager kicks off with a traditional rocking guitar attack which has never gone out of style, followed by some classy lead work introducing a very traditional space rock number. The chorus feels a bit derivative, but the production is top-notch.
Magnetar’s intro gives off heavy John Frusciante vibes, and the band seems to be going for a ballad tune, with a pretty derivative sound. The vocals are nothing like Red Hot Chili Peppers, but they are also loaded with so much reverb, it turns into a mess. This song really didn’t work for me, despite the mid track attempts at rocking out. The second half feels pretty unnecessary.
High Heels brings back more of a high-octane, old-school retro sound, and the band fares much better in this area. Half Gramme Of Soma always seems to put the priority on their collective grooving, and that is their greatest strength. Mind Game continues the heavy grungy guitar attack. The production is really clean, and it has a great mix except for the aforementioned effects on the vocals, which just seem excessive and unnecessary. The guitar layering work is fun but never leaves the bounds of traditional rock guitar.
a high-octane, old-school retro sound…
Sirens starts with a Middle Eastern inspired guitar riff and percussion, to which the band joins in seamlessly, slowly bringing up the sound. After a crescendo, it turns into one of the mellower slower tracks. Although the chorus riff hits pretty hard, they make you wait a lot for it. Wounds rocks in something of a slow dirge. The excessive vocal production gets more grating as the album advances and pretty decent tracks get a little ruined. This one in particular would be awesome with a more straightforward vocal.
22 22 is a free reign exploration of their trendier tendencies, although they can’t seem to refrain from playing constantly, thus this song lands in a familiar scenario, which at this point has lost much of its charm and will not sustain a seven-minute track where the overproduction of the vocals is again annoyingly front and center.
These guys are probably great live, but they needed some help with the production here. It really makes it difficult to pay much attention to the lyrics, which don’t shine too much on their own anyway. Great tones, production and performances on drums, guitar and bass. Good musicians, good songs overall, but several baffling musical and production choices.
Label: Sound Of Liberation Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Goro Riffs
