Viscera Drip - What Demons May Come

Being a solo artist is rough sometimes, but in rare occasions it produces really quality music, being able to focus purely on introspection. Viscera Drip is a solo project of J.A. Thiele. Information is scarce about his other work, but based on this EP, I will look forward to seeing how the music progresses.

The EP starts with the song "Paradise", and his influences are immediately heard, X-Fusion comes through loud and clear here. Slightly moody, while still very fast paced. Overall this is a great track, but, it does tread a bit close to being overdone. There are a lot of tracks out there like this, and to really stand out, it has to be amazing. This falls short of that for me. Very listenable, my complaints would be the rather grating snare drum, which could easily have been pulled from any late 90's Hocico track, and the lyrics, which are quickly becoming standard fare for this genre, which I find disappointing. We don't need someone screaming "Die, Die, Die" to make a point anymore, it isn't shocking.

"Nothing Left to Feel" is the second track, and I honestly don't care for it. The lead contributes a definite emotion, but, the song overall sounds confused, and thrown together. The vocals are out of sync, and the vocal FX take a turn to the completely unintelligible. The attempts at variation are distracting, frankly everything just seems out of place.

"Lovekiller" again harkens back to X-Fusion, the glitchy drum programming, the mood itself, makes me think immediately of 'Dial D for Demons'. I enjoy it, and I love when new music keeps my attention the whole way through, waiting for what else will happen in the song. I quite enjoy this track, but, the vocal FX change again in this track, a definite sign that the artist is still finding his groove.

Demons finishes this EP, and I wish it hadn't. Alternating creepy bells and blast beats, with the same vocal FX as "Lovekiller" makes this a complete mess. I am not sure where this fits in, it is too abrasive to be background noise, too unfocused to be played at a club, except perhaps at the end of the night.

For a first effort, this is really quite advanced, I would like to hear a more individual style emerge, the first thing that comes to mind with every track, is another band, which shouldn't be the case. I like a majority of the programming, the vocals change in every track, which really distracts, some variation is great on an album, but, for a 4 track EP, it just completely removes any sense of continuity. I have listened to hundred first EP's, and this one is easily one of my favorites. I think J.A. has a great future, if some of the wrinkles can be ironed out, and a sense of cohesion forms. It could go either way, but, I see a lot of talent and a great future for Viscera Drip. Jun 21 2012