The realms of hard rock and metal, along which the boundaries of GUIDES walk a fine line between here, are known for power and intensity, but “Drain,” their latest single, shows that while such music is always big, it can also be clever. “Drains” is the sound of the nu-metal ethic of sonic opposites being attractive, taken to even further extremes, the sound of complementary crestive collision.
Firstly, let’s address the ornate and complex nature of the styles they blend. It seems that time signatures come and go, dynamics take in anthemic highs as readily as understated lows, and they balance aggression and understatement as easily as they make muscle and melody dance together.
And if sonically they can wander the howling realms of screamo, a place of vocal violence and raw, razor wire guitars, basses that pulse like depth charges and intricate drum patterns, so too do they dance deftly through nu-metal nuance and more sedate, well, relatively speaking to the squall and sonic noise that surrounds it, sonics. This is truly dynamic music.
Hard rock, heavy metal… call it what you will, has built a name for being aggressive, in-your-face, full-on. And while all of those attributes and elements are found here, so too are more progressive and melodic ones, music for those looking for a mature take on a genre that, arguably, found many of its perfect forms a long time ago.
This is the sound of a band tipping its hat to tradition while at the same time playing by its own rules. At last!
