REVIEW: Bone Dance’s self-titled album
There is nothing like a set of music that sounds ruthless, dangerous, and perfect for you. Your liking of the band, their music, and the way they conduct themselves will make people fear that kind of energy, for it may come off as violent, hateful, and full of disrespect. They are not the target audience for that music, but they should be. Boise, Idaho’s Bone Dance have been releasing a slow but steady stream of music in the form of an early album and EP’s, each one showing the development of a band not ready to take strike, but on the attack. With the release of their self-titled second album (Meloto {US}; Throatruiner/Prototype {EU}), you will witness a successful musical assassination.
Combine the best elements of hardcore, punk and metal and turn that monster into an uncontrolled beast. Within that beast you create intelligence, patience, and sensibility. Balance these elements with confidence in knowing when to use them and when to hold back. Pack it with ten times the normal amount of gunpowder, and pull out a match. Strike and light the fuse. Run for your life, or stay there within the explosion and take in what’s to come. That is the perfect way to describe this album, and even if you’ve heard their music before, there’s nothing like experiencing new music for the first time, only to absorb it in different ways with every listen.
For one, that brutality and anger begins the moment vocalist Morgan Mechling says “wait your turn to become nothing”, and at the point you hear “nothing”, the band rips through with wicked precision, playing at a powerful pace. Within this are unique sections where it may sound like speed metal jazz or there will be portions where a rapid percussive break tears a brief-but-important hole in an ocean of heaving riffs from guitarists Kasey Richardson and Phillip Davis, and bassist Kryce Kresge. Steering things and uniting everyone in sync is drummer Patrick Santana. Together, one hears lyrics of doom, bloom, isolation and disgust but instead of dwelling in misery, Bone Dance does it in a way that sounds good to the soul because it moves the listener to want to break out of the crap and find sanity. At least that’s what I got out of the first three songs, so when it reaches “Conniver”, your throat has already been slashed. Move into track 4, and the band have decided to add some unique twists to their plan.
It is the mid-section of the album where I notice a bit of a “broadening of the horizons”, where it’s not just the band playing angst-ridden sounding music for the sake of doing so. One of the qualities I like about them is the harmony between the aggressive music and the lyrics which, upon reading it, is quite poetic, like an expanded haiku. Outside of hardcore and metal circles, there is a stereotype that the music is nothing but super speedy racket backed up with grunts of caveman-type “rah rah rah” lyrics. On the surface, that’s exactly what it is, and it is that primal spirit which has driven rock’n'roll through the ages and generation. What Bone Dance do is take that wicked spirit and keep it primal while mingling with different styles and influences that may not be immediately obvious. If the first three songs sounds like a clusterfuck of sound, it is the mid-section where I hear a bit of multi-layered textures. There is always something going on in terms of sound, so while Santana may be keeping the drum rhythms alive, sometimes the guitars and bass will lock into a non-technical repetitive rhythm, almost to the point of being progressive rock or touching on minimalism. The best riffs in music always have a repetitive and subtle seductive touches, but to hear Bone Dance do it is a bit new. With two guitarists, they’re not trying to outdo each other and pull of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman-style competitions, but there is a sense of collaboration and playtime which makes it sound like a well choreographed dance. That may sound corny, but listen to the WWW songs in the mid-section: “Writhing In Ecstasy”, “White Guilt” and “West”. The arrangement is quite nice, but not once do they let their guard down. That in-your-face feeling is always present, especially in “West” where there’s that galloping groove that for some reminded me of the middle of Carnivore’s “Inner Conflict”, a song from the NYHC movement that starts out with extreme rage before it gets into a bluesy hardcore metal crunch. I like that, for me it allows the flow of the music and album to breathe a bit. What I also love about the the arrangements in this mid-section is that things sound very tribal, if not communal, as if these guys are establishing mission statements for their fans to listen, comprehend, and take on for the betterment of all.
The last third of the album is when the band go for broke, the point of no return, and that begins with the fantastic “Children Having Children”, exposing the downfalls of a fallen generation which seems to be crumbling at a rapid pace. Without hesitation, it cuts ride into “Barren”, and everything eventually accumulates to the album’s sick finale, “Feral”, where they combine everything fans have respected about them, the new elements which was rooted but enhanced from previously released material, leading to appropriate open-ended closure.
Summary: Bone Dance are a band that celebrate a level of intensity that comes from wanting to pile on everything at once, but not to where it’s a mess. Their style of musicianship, lyricism, and construction of their songs are well thought out, disturbingly ugly from the outside but powerful and elegant when you understand how they communicate with one another, directed towards the listener. It’s not cacophony by any means, but there is something about hearing a group that play like they’re in a rumble and their lives depended on not only survival, but a rally cry to keep everyone motivated for the next rumble. Get in touch with what they do, favor how it’s done, and you’ll be open to a band who are sure to reveal new stories and elements in the future as they display with this release.
(For a look at previously-released Bone Dance music and merchandise, click to their store.)
