Like all good bands, you can’t always pin Storm Boy down stylistically, but you can always point to their general direction. They are over there, running on the outside track, exploring the raw, rebellious liminal spaces beyond the realm of conformity and comfort zones, just where all my favorite bands are found hanging out. Their’s too, I suspect.
Beast Machine Theory is a shifting sonic morass, one part scuzzy alt-rock, one part metal, one part punk, and one part whatever took their fancy when they were writing the song. It is, to say the least, uncompromising and aggressive, the sound of angst and anger still manifest in the world. It kicks arse and cuts the mustard, as we say on this side of the pond.
“Hands Under It” kicks things off nicely, raw and raucous, but clearly demonstrating that the band understands that, even when making music at such extremes, volume and velocity, of course, go a long way, but melody and groove are equally essential ingredients.
“In the Shadows of Fort Reno” runs on relentless drive and razor wire riffs, yet its brutality and bombast are balanced by a cool breakdown and the exchange of boy/girl vocals. “From Your Mouth” exists at that place where punk and metal find common ground, “Exploder” has all the grungey weight you might expect from an Olympia, Washington band, and “The Minute We’re Born” riffs and roars like a banshee in a particularly bad mood.
Beast Machine Theory is big, but also clever, and Storm Boy makes music that is muscular yet melodic, gritty and groovesome, bombastic yet, in its way, beautiful. What’s not to like?
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