Botch - We Are the Romans (1999)Release ID: 1731
There's a mathematical pollution in the metalcore air, and it's a great one too! Those patterns needed to work out with crushing sounds and atmosphere that are achieved perfectly, passing by in a way that might make the band frustrated, but they took their frustration out on their sound. This results in the subtle transformations in each song to be executed smoothly while engaging in real angry instrumentation that create a masterpiece. The album speaks softly in the subtle well-written in the midst of punishing technical metalcore/mathcore madness. The album is intelligent and abrasive. It pounds through clouds of dissonant distortion and otherworldly annihilation!
We are the Romans is never over the top. Each and every riff is organic with different variations that fit perfectly. The songs begin and end either differently or the same. The structures are the right ones for every song, with all the riffs, patterns, and harmonies in flawless flow.
The opener "To Our Friends In the Great White North" is just insane!! The riff passage at the two-minute mark is one of the most epic in the history of metalcore, surrounded by walls of dissonance. I'm not lying when I say there's a jazz passage in "Mondrian Was a Liar". You gotta listen to believe! "Transitions from Persona to Object" greatly represents the organic nature of the album. Every riff is played naturally, never forcefully placed, as if the riffs are inventing themselves. After an eerie intro melody, the song continues into its awesomeness, riff after riff, all in a perfect groove mood. The heavy riffs lead to high dissonance in a passage that brings back the lower riffs and vocals. The song ends with frantic discord fading out to a drumbeat. The guitar leads in "Swimming the Channel Vs. Driving the Chunnel" are simple yet frighteningly ominous, building up into one of the eeriest songs in metalcore. Almost the entire song has just that guitar melody with different variations, accompanied by eerie spoken vocals. Soon the vocals stop, but the guitar melody is still going with the drums that fade out as well. That's quite a timid ambient song...
In the next song "C. Thomas Howell as the ‘Soul Man‘", the main riff is interrupted in a brilliant and not rude way by a passage of repetitively eerie high guitar, going solo for a few seconds before the rest of the band joins in. More of the high guitar notes come in a different pattern. The song keeps going until it slows down exactly when it needs to. Then the mathcore action returns in a bang with an epic chord pattern over frantic drumming before the best ever crash and burn. "Saint Matthew Returns to the Womb" will grab you by the throat and twist it with exotic changes and unrestrained riffs until you can't breathe. Same with this next song that I like its original title more, "Frequenting Mass Transit", yet for some reason they changed it to "Frequency A** Bandit". That song's lyrics of ambiguous angst fit into the crushing powerful music like a glove ("Patience is a girl I’ve been trying to forget about").
"I Wanna Be a Sex Symbol On My Own Terms" has vocal-trade offs that make the sure album never gets stale, and one of the reasons why it's impossible for me to not enjoy this album. The 11-minute closer "Man the Ramparts" is the perfect way to end Botch's two-album career. Epic gigantic chords soar throughout its long duration. Soon there's a passage where a choir sings the album's title, "We are the Romans", in glorious grandeur before being overtaken by one more furious devastating riff as a proper farewell from the band members. A grand atmospheric outro to bring this album to a heavy epic end! However, there's a hidden electronic remix of "Thank God for Worker Bees" from their other album American Nervoso which makes me wanna hear the original song.
We are the Romans explodes like a firework and lights up with vibrant colors with loud ear-crushing pulverizing force. Now that's loudness my ears can stand! It keeps happening until...it's over. The album never begs the listener to pay attention, but the listener would be begging for more until they make the sad realization that Botch is forever gone. And if any listeners wonder, "What the h*ll just happened!?", I'll just tell them that they came across some of the best mind-blowing mathcore yet!
Favorites: "To Our Friends in the Great White North", "Transitions from Persona to Object", "C. Thomas Howell as the 'Soul Man'", "Frequency A** Bandit", "Man the Ramparts"
