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| | Static Tensions | | | Music Artist : | | Kylesa | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Prosthetic Records | | Release Date : | | 2009-03-17 | | Store Price : | | $13.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $13.98 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Scapegoat
2. Insomnia for Months
3. Said and Done
4. Unknown Awareness
5. Running Red
6. Nature's Predators
7. Almost Lost
8. Only One
9. Perception
10. To Walk Alone
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 heaviest album of 2009
Submitted on: 2009-11-07 |
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I stand by my statement. I DARE you to find a heavier sounding album from 2009 than Kylesa's "Static Tensions." From beginning to end, you are being bludgeoned by not just a duel drum attack, but relentlessly aggro riffage, fuzzed out bass and twist after sonic twist.
Compared to their past releases, the improvement in sound for the recording of the dual drum attack compared to albums past is utterly staggering. The drum fill that kicks off the opening track, "Scapegoat," portrays a simple message: what's coming at you for the next 40 minutes is going to be utterly brutal... and, oh lord, it is! On "Said and Done" the percussion takes over a breakdown that sounds almost like an entire marching band drum corps packed into your stereo. And how about them guitars? "Unknown Awareness" builds up with a pounding primal beat combined with a distorted bass that sounds like bodies falling from the sky. The standard rythm guitars enter while another wails mournfully with a ghostly reverb effect as you feel like you've wandered into the wrong part of the rabbit hole.
The vocals being a bit lost in the mix only adds to the mystique of Phil and Laura's singing. The lyrics are abstract, thought provoking but never pretentious. I think the best lines of the album appear in "Nature's Predators" when Phil proclaims "This is no love generation/This is the town I live in... We are not victims/We are someone's enemy." You wouldn't expect something so poignant from a band so heavy as this, but they do so without being condecsending or insuting to the listeners intelligence, but say it in a way that any listener of any intelligence can get on a number of levels.
If you want to classify this, I think the closest you could come to is stoner metal or death metal. I'd personally classify it in the "f*** me that's HEAVY" genre. Overall, one of the years best! BUY!
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 Psychedelic Stoner Rock?
Submitted on: 2009-08-06 |
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I'm not quite sure how to write a review for this, because this album is difficult to classify. To some extent Kylesa sounds like old school punk music, but there are weird ambient noises similar to a Pink Floyd album thrown in along with some hardcore, speed metal, and sludge elements. However, the most unusual aspect is the presence of not one but two percussionists.
That's right, there are two drummers in Kylesa, and that is what gives the album a primal atmosphere. I can't help but feel like the natives are summoning King Kong when I listen to this: especially on tracks like "Unknown Awareness". That double drum attack is what makes this band stand out to me. Sure they have other solid features, like three vocalists, but the percussion work is outstanding.
I wouldn't call this the best metal album of 2009, but I'd have absolutly no problem giving it an honorable mention. Go tell your friends, "Kylesa has arrived!"
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Heavy Metal Perfection
Submitted on: 2009-07-03 |
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| There's so much right with this album that to pen a truly complete review would be damn near impossible. The tribal rhythms the two percussionists pound out are drumming perfection (in a stroke of production genius, there is a different drummer panned into each headphone). This kind of rhythmic complexity is rarely found in heavy metal. The riffs are outstanding, and this band's use of tone and timing are unique. There's swampy sludge, cold hearted thrash, and moving hints of post rock shoegazing deftly mixed throughout the record. Vocalists/Guitarists Laura Pleasants and Philip Cope trade off soaring melodies and throaty bellowing, and the result is usually spine tingling. I can't say enough about this record. If you are a fan of Mastodon, Baroness, Pelican, Red Sparrowes, The Melvins or sludgy, atmospheric heavy music of any kind, you owe it to yourself to pick this up. I can honestly say I've played it at least once all the way through every day for the last month and a half...and I have no plans to stop this routine. |
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Music nerds need to settle down..
Submitted on: 2009-05-20 |
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| Funny on how much press this album is getting. Now that everyone is on board, yes it is a great record. This band has been pumping out quality records since first forming as Damad in the mid 90's. I have had every single release since then. This is the most mainstream and best produced record they have made. I hope it gets them to Mastadon type heights. Mastadon needed a few records to sound great. These guys needed none. Go buy everything. |
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Breakthrough Heavy Metal Band of 2009?
Submitted on: 2009-05-03 |
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I got this CD because Kylesa was going to open up for Mastodon on Mastodon's recent Crack the Skye tour...man, was I amazed!
Static Tensions is possibly my favorite CD of 2009, plus this band was completely amazing live. They played almost 100% of songs from this CD so you can tell themselves they are very proud of it.
I can't explain the music style very well, they are very unique but if you like sludgey, progressive and creative heavy metal then please please check this band out. The little videos on YouTube do them no justice. Get this CD and crank it up on a good sound system, it is truly an amazing CD from start to end. |
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