Review Summary: It's in no way a classic, but Astral Rejection still stands out as a welcome addition to the genre.
First thing’s first - I hated I Set My Friends On Fire when I first heard them a couple of years ago. Metalcore is not a style of music that is on my list of favorites, and the combination of it and electronica was rather strange to me. However, after listening to “Things That Rhyme With Orange”, I was hooked, and I found that You Can’t Spell Slaughter Without Laughter was an enjoyable album. Not a good album; just an enjoyable album. The fact that a couple of kids were willing to take the piss out of the genre instead of glorifying it only added to the appeal. Needless to say I was excited to hear how they were going to expand their sound on their next album.
Astral Rejection is a pretty creative album once you give it a few listens, but at first, it is a little hard to get past some of the lesser qualities. There is an obvious over-abundance of inorganic instruments and heavy Auto-Tune. Plus, as with Slaughter, the songs are not immediately catchy. And yes, the lyrics are really bad, if you can actually understand them. It’s like singer/lyricist Matt Mehana is struggling to embody the spirit of Cedric Bixler-Zavala by writing nonsensical, non sequiturs with $100 words thrown about.
Once hearing it a few more times Astral Rejection really does catch on. First single and lead track “It Comes Naturally” is both catchy and serves as a clever combination of hardcore and electronic, causing for repeat listens, and it instantly grabs the listener. The same can be said for “Astral Rejection”, “Excite Dyke”, and “Erectangles” But it’s the more out-there songs that stick out. Both “Developer, The Horn” and “Life Hertz” are primarily electronica songs. With the exception of the screaming at the end of “Life Hertz”, these songs dismiss the hardcore genre entirely. They instead opt for synth-based numbers one could expect to hear at any dance club. Even with the mass amounts of Auto-Tune over the subpar clean vocals, something about it works, and some of the vocal melodies are pleasant.
Other songs like “Infinite Suck” and “My Paralyzed Brother Taps His Foot To This Beat” are bookended by some interesting instrumentals. “Infinite Suck” starts out with a heavy 8-bit beat and accompanying synth, leading into the aggressive sound that we are used to with ISMFOF. “My Paralyzed Brother…” starts off with a house-influenced intro leading into a Middle Eastern style electronic melody, continuing with what can only be described as hardcore IDM.
For the most part, Astral Rejection is enjoyable with the exception of a couple of songs. “Kief Catcher” and “Cacafuego, Nuestra Senora De La Concepcion!” can easily be skipped, with the former transitioning awkwardly into an R&B-esque breakdown that has zero appeal. “Cacafuego”, bears a slight resemblance to ISMFOF’s older material, but it really doesn’t go anywhere. With this being the final song, it causes the album to end on a bad note.
Overall, this album is not for everyone. It contains very few catchy, sing-along choruses, and Matt Mehana’s attempts at guttural vocals are overbearing at times. But if you can get past the lesser qualities, then Astral Rejection is definitely worth your time. The electronic elements are pretty decent for an electronicore band, and the mix of different types of electronic music allow most of the songs to stand out. This album proves that ISMFOF are capable of moving forward and crafting memorable songs.
