..
The
CD
Nonpoint
- Statement
Label:
MCA Records
Rating:
Tracks:
1 Mindtrip
2 Victim
3 Endure
4 Back Up
5 What a Day
6 Misled
7 Doublestakked
8 Orgullo
9 Years
10 Hive
11 Levels
12 Tribute
Nonpoint’s debut “statement” gets in your
face first second you push play and doesn’t let go for the entire 12 tracks.
Mixing the bone crushing riff’s that put bands like Megadeth on the map
back in the 80’s, with melodically aggressive vocals Nonpoint creates what
is indeed a album years ahead of their contemporaries. At times the songs
touch upon an almost psychedelic quality in vocal and wha-wha guitar at
others things turn downright funky. The sounds Nonpoint create just might
be called Acid-funk-thrash- Metal. But what really sets them aside from
other modern metal bands is the songs don’t substitute melody for aggression.
You’ll bang your head, but you may also find yourself screaming along.
It’s good fun for the whole dysfunctional family!
“Statement” is one the best modern metal
albums to hit the streets in years.
.
The
Bio
.
Brace yourself for
Nonpoint. Crushing, devastating, hypnotic and brutal, this south Florida
quartet is the newest - and likeliest - contender for the metal throne.
Three years of bashing around the state's seediest establishments has garnered
Nonpoint a massive regional following, all under the radar of the glitzy
Miami dance scene. Nonpoint's fans have come out of the woodwork to support
a new kind of metal, and it's not about sunny South Beach pomposity. It
is, in fact, the opposite. Now it's time for the rest of the world to catch
up, as the 1000 metric tons of Audio Visual abuse known as Nonpoint releases
its debut MCA album, Statement. In the album's twelve tracks, Nonpoint
indeed makes a definitive Statement that the outer boundaries of metal
have at last been surveyed.
"No frills... what
you see is what you get," says drummer Robb Rivera when asked to describe
Nonpoint¹s music. Produced by Jason Bieler Statement culminates a
musical evolution for the band. "These songs represent the three years
we've been together," adds Elias Soriano, the band's ferocious frontman,
vocalist, and chief lyricist. Along those lines, Statement covers a good
deal of adventurous musical ground, while always remaining relentlessly
hardcore.
The album begins
with "Mindtrip," a declaration of the band's intentions ("You're about
to take a mindtrip/so get your ticket stamped/pack you're thoughts up/
and set your self to rant and rave"). "Victim" sustains the intensity with
Andrew Goldman's savage guitar and Soriano's tightrope walk between full-throttle
metal and hypertensive rap. "Endure" is, says Soriano, "about getting signed,
about dealing with adversity," while the scorching "Back Up" proves that
Nonpoint never drops its guard. "What A Day" chronicles one of those days
("I was in my storytelling mode," notes Soriano. "I'd had a bad day, and
was wondering what could make it worse"). "Mislead" boasts a spiraling
helix of wrenching guitar lines, while the seven-minute composition "Double
Stacked" is a bitter suite reflecting the band's affinity for the techno/rave
scene.
Being that two band
members - Soriano and Rivera - are of Puerto Rican descent, the song "Orgullo"
(Spanish for "pride" and sung en español) should come as no surprise.
Says Soriano, "You can tell Robb is Latin from his beats. His does a lot
of old school hard beats, but once in a while there's a little salsa thrown
in. It's more of an attitude that comes through in the band." It just proves
headbanging is truly the universal language. Nonpoint takes no prisoners
on tracks like the dramatic "Years," "Levels," and the rhythmically complex
"Hive" showcase Nonpoint's solid melodic foundation, the latter track being
a salute to the warriors in the Nonpoint mosh pits. "Tribute," the album's
closer, features Grimm (of Darwin's Waiting Room) in a towering twin rap
battle with Elias.
Not that anyone would
mistake this band for some sort of trip-hop hybrid. For all it's intricate
musicality, Nonpoint is unalloyed kick-your teeth-in rock. Their origins
go back several years to Puerto Rico, where New York-native Robb Rivera
first formed and led a band called Nonpoint Factor. The rock en español
movement had already begun in earnest, but Robb wasn't satisfied with what
he could accomplish on the island. He moved to Florida hoping to put together
his own metal dream team. Enter New Jersey native Elias Soriano, who spent
his adolescence in Ft. Lauderdale, having attended high school there. After
attending a concert by Puya, the highly popular Puerto Rican rock band,
Elias "fell in love with the music."
From there, he landed
an audition with Rivera and was added to the line-up on the spot. By 1997,
KB and Andrew, both then members of the Florida band Fuse, were added as
well. Bluesy and sonically bombastic, Andrew was a gifted guitar master,
while KB - a cross between Les Claypool and a WWF superstar -- was equally
adept, inspired as he was by the late great bass visionary Jaco Pastorious.
Together, they made a cohesive unit that quickly found favor on Florida's
club circuit. Later in 1997 they released their premiere indie CD Separate
Yourself, which became a regional best-seller. By the time major labels
came courting, Nonpoint routinely sold out large venues, claiming one of
the most rabid followings in the southeast. With thousands of South Florida
fans going ballistic, there was no longer room for doubt, and when the
dust settled, Nonpoint signed with MCA.
All along, the members
of Nonpoint have had one mission in mind: expand the base. "We're constantly
converting people," says Elias. "Our live shows are pure chaos: screaming
kids with smiles on their faces, non-stop crowd surfing. We have a great
relationship with our fans."
Once Statement begins
making the rounds, they'd better make room for a lot more of them.
The
Band
.
Vocals - Elias
Soriano
Guitar - Andrew
Goldman
Drums - Robb
Rivera
Bass - Kirch
Balzwak
.
Want
more?
.
Visit
the official web site news, media clips and tour dates!
Listen
to sound clips and Purchase the CD online
Photos courtesy of Nonpoint
and MCA Records.
All Rights Reserved by Copyright
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