Oxes - Oxxxes
(Monitor)
Oxes - Half Half and Half 7"
(Monitor)
The Oxes have finally returned with their second album, the follow-up to
easily one of the
best instrumental rock records I've ever heard. By now, I'm sure you've
heard all about
their unrelentingly ass kicking live shows and the whole wireless guitars
thing.
For this album, Oxes didn't just rehash the old album, but they didn't
exactly re-write
their whole strategy either. It's still instrumental pseudo-metal with
bursts of (what may
or may not be) ironic nods to old school metal (circa 1986). However, they
have dropped the
tendency toward herky jerky rhythms and quick tempo changes. The
consistency in tempo takes
away a lot of what made Oxes an exciting, spastic, and unpredictable band.
Sometimes this
does work in their favor though, like on the opening track, which rocks in
all the right ways
while switching between a steady palm muted chug-chug-chug to a
fist-pumping, karate-kicking
burst.
"Chyna, Chyna, Chyna" (which is a reworking of a song that originally
appeared on a split EP
with Big'n) is really pretty for the first half before letting loose with
the distortion
pyrotechnics on the second half. "Bees Won" revisits the shifting rhythms
with a guitar
that strums a single note at varying speeds, which gives the song an uneasy,
sea-sick
feeling. "Kaz Hayashi '01" is another old song they re-recorded (this one
came from their
first 7"). This time around the dynamics are sharpened up, the pinch
harmonics are a little
better emphasized and (sadly) the totally awesome (and short) lead line of
fifths is taken out.
"Half Half and Half" focuses on getting into a groove and letting the heavy
riffs build and
fall. The guitars play around each other, toying with the idea of a build,
until they burst
into a chaotic mess while the drums are pounded into splinters. They wisely
chose this song
as the a-side to the 7" they released just before the album, as it's
probably the best song
on the album. The b-side is a cover of The Foo Fighters' "Everlong."
Which, in theory, is
probably one of the funniest ideas for a cover in recent memory. Sadly, the
execution isn't
too memorable. It's instrumental (of course), and it's funny to think that
they are playing a
Foo Fighters song, but it just doesn't make for an interesting or exciting
song.
Oxes had the unenviable task of following a surprisingly flawless debut
album, and they did it
well enough. I'll probably still be reaching for the first album when I
want to hear them, but
when I do choose to listen to this one, I'm sure I'll always enjoy it, and
excitedly wait for
the next when they may live up the their potential and release the greatest
rock album ever.
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