Review Summary: Heavy Heavy Low Low has managed to release an album as ridiculously disjointed and unfocused as the title implies it would be...
Heavy Heavy Low Low is a band that doesn't really fit snugly into a genre. Not quite grind, not really screamo, not exactly post hardcore, and not quite progressive, Heavy Heavy Low Low has always managed to sound unique. However, unique doesn't always mean good. For example, a tuna fish, peanut butter, and hummus sandwich would be an undeniably unique and interesting creation, but unfortunately it would taste horrible.
The sound of the album itself is a bit tricky to pin down. Its not quite as grind influenced as their previous efforts, but in spite of that it seems to be even more disjointed than normal. Basically, its a grindcore album without the technicality, heaviness, and interesting song structures that normally come with grindcore. Most of the songs are around a minute and ten seconds long (though some songs can go up to an astounding two and a half to three minutes!), and while this is acceptable in instances where the music is to intense to be handled in more than minute long bursts, the songs on this album aren't really intense at all. In fact, the songs are rather boring and tend to just drag on and on with no sense of reason or direction, and when the songs rarely exceed 1:30 in length, that's saying something.
Usually, when this type of songwriting is employed, its used to stress the overwhelmingly intense and technical instrumentation, but that's not the case here. The guitar "riffs" are really just noise for the most part, and the drumming sounds horribly stale and recycled throughout. The bass is actually present in the mix, but it more or less follows the guitars around by making the same sorts of noises. That being said, there actually are a few points in the album where you can pick out a few coherent riffs and half baked melodies, but you really have to look for them. Eagle Mewnadria, which is the longest song here (clocking in at a whopping 3:37), contains the majority of the albums coherent passages, and it winds up being pretty much the only song that doesn't end up being a dragging expanse of disjointed noise. Pretty ironic, don't you think? As far as the vocals go, they're really just unpleasant to listen to. Instead of actually screaming, growling, or singing, the vocalist opts to shout in a terribly grating manner for a good 90% of the album, and either talks or attempts to growl for the remaining 10%.
Basically, the album is just a giant mess of disjointed noise and half finished song ideas. The worst part is that it just seems to drag on endlessly, and the album is really only about 23 or so minutes long (once you take out the ten minutes of feedback after the last song), which is simply astounding. This album, with the exception of Eagle Mewnadria, really just fails on almost every level. Even the song titles, such as Hahahahahahahaha and How Many Dad's Must Eat Themselves? are just half baked attempts at humor. Even though this is par for the course for their contemporaries, Heavy Heavy Low Low just takes it to a new level of mindlessness. I guess what I'm trying to say is, unless you just are just nuts over HHLL, avoid this like the plague.
