Laminated

About a month or two ago, I saw a film titled A Scanner Darkly. The film was based on a science fiction novel by the same name, written by a 20th century author named Philip K. Dick. Now, I have never read the book, but I didn’t enjoy the film, so I don’t plan on reading the book. Does that make me an asshole? Probably. Anyway, this band is named after the book, and they are completely influenced by Dick’s work, especially lyrically. Everything they write has to do with his writing, which is pretty interesting. I mean, if you’re going to do something artistic, like make music, you should have something to strive for and you need a theme or a message to convey.

A Scanner Darkly (the band) are a rather strange sort of drone/metal/grind band. They combine screaming (duh) with lots of blast beats and heavy guitar riffage, but they also have some mellow, ambient (if you can even call it that) parts, like on “Four Years, False Memories,” which is just over 9 minutes of strange sounds compiled together. But, for the most part, ASD are your run of the mill grind/metal band, drawing influence from bands like Pig Destroyer (apparently they cover Pig Destroyer live) and the Melvins.

If you like your metal heavy and technical, A Scanner Darkly might do it for you. I can’t really picture myself listening to this one too many times after this, but I can imagine some folks getting really into this CD for various reasons. ASD are very talented and I think we’re going to hear more from this band eventually.