O Canada!!! Oh Canada...Oh good god...as beautiful as you are with your Poutine and maple syrup, you let yourself down with some of your musical exports. For one country alone to have produced not only CELINE DION and NICKELBACK but JUSTIN BIEBER too? There must be something in the water up there...like, as in a power plant leak or something, I mean come on that's an above average level of nope isn't it? Well, hoping to evade such stigma are SUMO CYCO...hailing from Hamilton/Toronto, the four-piece recently released a brand new album by the name "Opus Mar" which to be honest is a worrying sign before we even start. It essentially means a composition of impaired quality...marvelous...let's see what these energetic, ballsy rockers have to offer...enter Maezumo...
The album opens up with "Anti-Anthem" which part of me believes is a play on itself, in line with the album's title...it's got an incredibly bold sound and the chorus here is catchy enough, it's got punk elements, it's frenetic and in ways would appeal to fans of say, MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE with it's quirky structure, vocalist Sever (real name Skye) has quite a raspy, aggressive vocal giving the sound an extra air of attitude and overall it's not terrible. "Free Yourself" retains the up-beat feel here but utilizes more of a pop-influence, it's got more melody and cleaner vocals and enough hooks in the chorus to cast similarities with the likes of ICON FOR HIRE, generally sounding a bit better...
Lead single "Move Mountains" featuring reggae-rocker Benji Webbe of SKINDRED fame is naturally quite hefty and his inclusion does benefit the group, his trademark gruff vocal giving the track an extra sense of substance, aided also by key and tempo changes, nu-metal elements, it's got some life in it...if only the chorus wasn't so damn repetitive, and I couldn't help looking at the video and thinking Benji does his clothes shopping at the same outlet as former WWE tag team Legion Of Doom...dem' spikes! #LegionOfDred The reggae influence is ripe throughout "Brave II" too but it's a far softer offering, the smooth verses can't help but feel like it's something JESSIE J would have released in ways...elsewhere too influences can be heard in tracks such as "Kids Of Calamity", with gang-vocals akin to those of fellow Canadian's BILLY TALENT, while "Rivalry" is infused with shades of NO DOUBT, before the rest of the album generally just skips along with little or no differentiation.
All in all "Opus Mar" isn't necessarily a bad record but it's not a typically memorable one either, while some of the content here is decent; some strong riffs with promising crossover genre-mashing, there aren't enough clear highlights here to really propel the album further...however as it's only their second album it's still too early to dismiss them outright...Jonokuchi, as the Sumo would say...[5]
The album opens up with "Anti-Anthem" which part of me believes is a play on itself, in line with the album's title...it's got an incredibly bold sound and the chorus here is catchy enough, it's got punk elements, it's frenetic and in ways would appeal to fans of say, MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE with it's quirky structure, vocalist Sever (real name Skye) has quite a raspy, aggressive vocal giving the sound an extra air of attitude and overall it's not terrible. "Free Yourself" retains the up-beat feel here but utilizes more of a pop-influence, it's got more melody and cleaner vocals and enough hooks in the chorus to cast similarities with the likes of ICON FOR HIRE, generally sounding a bit better...
Lead single "Move Mountains" featuring reggae-rocker Benji Webbe of SKINDRED fame is naturally quite hefty and his inclusion does benefit the group, his trademark gruff vocal giving the track an extra sense of substance, aided also by key and tempo changes, nu-metal elements, it's got some life in it...if only the chorus wasn't so damn repetitive, and I couldn't help looking at the video and thinking Benji does his clothes shopping at the same outlet as former WWE tag team Legion Of Doom...dem' spikes! #LegionOfDred The reggae influence is ripe throughout "Brave II" too but it's a far softer offering, the smooth verses can't help but feel like it's something JESSIE J would have released in ways...elsewhere too influences can be heard in tracks such as "Kids Of Calamity", with gang-vocals akin to those of fellow Canadian's BILLY TALENT, while "Rivalry" is infused with shades of NO DOUBT, before the rest of the album generally just skips along with little or no differentiation.
All in all "Opus Mar" isn't necessarily a bad record but it's not a typically memorable one either, while some of the content here is decent; some strong riffs with promising crossover genre-mashing, there aren't enough clear highlights here to really propel the album further...however as it's only their second album it's still too early to dismiss them outright...Jonokuchi, as the Sumo would say...[5]
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