Kastasyde-Gnosis

"I feel like I just went to Baskin Robins and Costco and emptied all the samples into a bowl and mixed them and proceeded to eat the delightful mixture. That is just one small metaphor of the overlapping flavors of this deliciously brutal Metal classic (yeah I said classic....and with this being their most recent effort I guess I'm making a bold statement......but I stand by it.)

Kastasyde's new album "Gnosis" is so awesome and diverse I'm having a hard time classifying it's sub genres. It's like if Mastodon and Metallica had a baby (I know Lars and bill tried) and 3 inches of blood and Acid Bath had one too and those babies did some kind of test tube stuff the result would be this behemoth of such eclectic proportions.

So the first song on this chicago five pieces latest effort "Natural State" is rather thrashy but in kinda a cool modern way but it still has a little bit of an old school tinge to it giving it uniquely organic properties. Dissonant, a bit melodic and yet still raw and aggressive. The orchestration is so spot on yet just slightly off kilter in a comfortably against the grain type of style. All the clean parts are very beautiful with a kinda "spooky noochies" feel only to transform into something heavy and bluesy like a stoner doom band with a little more balls and a 351 hemi under the hood.

The title track for "Gnosis" is a gargantuan 09:50 and has so many different riffs within the whole thing,This band has such a wide eclectic taste it's quite refreshing to know that young bands still follow roots and don't go for what's "trending".

"In the Spiral" is a rather haunting acoustic track reminicent of the better parts of Black Label Society and Alice in Chains... sending chills up my spine. The next track "Black Heart" blast beats straight into brutality kinda reminds me of Black Dahlia Murder (I guess one of the songs features a solo by their guitarist Ryan Knight) and "Blood Mountain" era Mastodon.

By the way this album goes great to the first Jurassic Park movie..... not sure if that was the bands intent though. What wonderful musicianship, shredding ass leads, Some real hook laden tasty riffs, awesome bass your grandmother would groove to and some very fluid drumming coming out with layers of great fills and a very powerful range of a voice that can go from singing to strong metal vocals in a pinch. I gotta say these guys nailed it I'll give em five pentacles because they put alot of effort into this album its very technical and melodic yet so heavy and precise without sacrificing feel. I think these guys are here to stay bat least from what these ears can hear. Go buy a copy of Gnosis right now if you want your ears satisfied, we must take care of our ears and give them Kastasyde!!!!!!!!"

facebook.com/kastasyde