Sexual Man Chocolate

I wrote about a band called Attack Attack! in one of my first blog entries, and I wanted to review and give my impressions of a new song they just released on their myspace, called "Sexual Man Chocolate". My estimation is that this is Attack Attack's best song, and one of the best songs in the screamo/technocore genre (though I hesitate to validate technocore as a genre given that not that many bands fit its mold of hardcore and electronic--the main ones being Attack Attack! and Asking Alexandria). If I have one gripe about the song is that it is too short--it goes by too quickly. This band is known for writing short songs, however: their first album barely clocks in at 30 minutes.

I discovered this band, as I seem to discover most bands these days--they were a supporting act for an Escape the Fate headliner in NYC in early 2009 that I went to. I checked them out on myspace, and really dug their mix of screamo and techno music, particularly the song "Stick Stickly", with its infamous rave/party ending sequence. I caught the ending of their performance and bought their debut, called Someday Came Suddenly. These guys quickly became one of my favorite bands, writing simple (not a bad thing!) and extremely catchy music.

It turns out these guys became scene darlings almost overnight, gaining in popularity so much lately that they are arguably the biggest band going to Warped in 2010. They've had some personnel changes along the way, parting ways with two vocalists, and making their keyboardist the lead vocalist (therefore playing back the synth parts). After all of the changes, the "new" Attack Attack! is very different from even the Someday Came Suddenly band in 2008. If "Sexual Man Chocolate" is any indication of the direction this band is going in with their second album, Shazam (to be released in May 2010), Attack Attack! might very well become one of the biggest screamo bands in the world.

The song starts off with piano arpeggios fading in that sound very interesting and cool. Drums and guitars come in next. Right away this band sounds heavier, tuning down to drop b (or even drop a#) from their debut album guitar tuning of drop c#, at least a whole stop difference. The guitars play a rhythm that descends a half-step (many guitar covers already up on youtube just play the same pitch).

Caleb Shomo's aggressive, almost As-I-Lay-Dying-esque (but very fitting), vocals tear into the listener with energy. Next comes an interesting clean vocal melody pre-chorus, with some nice harmonies thrown in. The chorus is extremely melodic and hooky, with obligatory strummed octaves on the guitar, and an aggressive tail to this section sung by Caleb. A really cool-sounding riff-based breakdown plays next, which not only sounds great, but adds variety to the rhythmically based breakdowns that are predominantly used by screamo bands. The song then switches back to a double rendition of the chorus, and is followed by an aggressive tail and a repeat of the intro piano licks and guitar riffs for the outro.

This is already one of my favorite songs of 2010 and is, in all seriousness, a screamo masterpiece. I am SO stoked for Shazam, and seeing these guys on tour. CHECK 'EM OUT!! peace