Ruining it for Everybody is the sophomore album from Iwrestledabearonce. These avant-garde metallers formed in Shreveport, Louisiana in 2007. They utilize a wild blend of genres to create a highly unique sound. This well controlled chaos brings to mind bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Mr. Bungle.
Ruining for Everybody is my first time really delving any deeper past a few songs into Iwrestledabearonce. This album impressed me a lot more than I expected it would. There’s so much going on every step of the way from beginning to end. Electronica, jazz, grindcore, metalcore, and various other genres are all brought together here. Such endeavors would end up just sounding like noise for most bands, but, for the most part, Iwrestledabearonce pull it off with talent and style. Some songs are a little less ambitious than the rest and get slightly boring. There’s a few moments like this, but the rest of the album delivers enough metal with a case of attention deficit disorder to keep anyone entertained.
Krysta Cameron’s vocals sound great. “Break it Down Camacho” shows her ability to go from harsh screams and yells to excellent clean vocals. Her cleans offer a nice breather from her steady yelling at times. On “This Head Music Makes my Eyes Rain” they help create a nice atmosphere. She takes on a very soulful tone on “Deodorant Can’t fix Ugly.”
The first single and opening track “Next Visible Delicious” is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It features Krysta’s cleans and screams along with talented guitar work. It has a nice dose of melody and highlights how cohesive Iwrestledabearonce can make all of these different genres sound together. “Karate Nipples” is another standout track. It features a…disco breakdown? Yes, and it’s moments like that that really keep things interesting.
Ruining it for Everybody is a great album with a solid fusion of genres. Not only does it have crazy time signatures and abrupt tempo changes, but it has abrupt genre changes. Iwrestledabearonce prove to be a talented band that can make all of this flow nicely. I enjoyed this album much more than I thought I would. I’m interested to see how the chaos and energy in their music play out live when Metal Delirium is at the All Stars Tour next month.
Rating: 8/10
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