Review Summary: Organized chaos at its finest
An interesting development in the past few years among the metal community has been the re-evaluation of the nu-metal scene. Once the utter laughingstock of heavy music, seen as juvenile and half-baked, people have recently been looking at it and saying something along the lines of “Hey, this was actually kinda good! I mean, Limp Bizkit still sucks, but are we really gonna hate on Slipknot/Linkin Park/early Korn/etc.?”
This re-evaluation has, of course, led to a revival of the genre in the metal scene, usually taking the form of nu metalcore, which makes sense. I mean, the kids who grew up on nu-metal are probably old enough to start making music, and one of the hottest genres on the market is metalcore, so why not combine the two? There’s two ways a band can go with this direction. On the one hand, you have a band like Graphic Nature, who takes the elements of nu-metal, makes them just a smidge heavier, but otherwise provides no real evolution on the format and creates the album equivalent of a meal comprised entirely of carbs, which is to say that it fills you up in the moment, but quickly fades away and leaves you feeling empty inside.
The other direction you can go is Tallah.
If you don’t care for a lot of verbal gesticulating about the grandness of this album’s chaos, I’ll sum up this review simply: this album is chaotically beautiful, and the best thing to come out of the nu-metalcore era. It’s a seamless experience that’s meant to be listened front to back, and I highly recommend it.
To get more specific,
The Generation of Danger is nu-metal evolved and energized to an extent that few, if any other bands have managed to do. Tallah have crafted an album that takes the groove and bounce of nu-metal, turntables and all, merged with chaotic heavy elements that you’d normally see in deathcore, complemented by drums that sound like St. Anger but good (no, I’m serious), guitars as sharp as a fucking vorpal blade, and a vocalist who seems to have made it his mission to be as chaotic and insane sounding as he possibly fucking can.
All of this is best summarized with the first proper track on the album, “The Hard Reset”. For the life of me, I cannot think of a better song that sets the tone for an album than this one. Heavy as shit vocals one second, followed almost immediately by high-pitched yelps the next, all while drums and guitars pound in the background seeming to drive vocalist Justin Bonitz to go further and further into the realms of vocal insanity, all leading up to a rhythm switch that cues in a fast-paced rap section (remember, this is still nu-metalcore), all punctuated by a breakdown that contains a fucking
moan. It’s chaotic, a hell of a fun time, and if you liked it, I guarantee you will like the rest of the album.
To speed through the rest of the super notable tracks, “The Impressionist”’s synth and drum interlude is the perfect opportunity for drummer Max Portnoy to show that he’s just as talented as his Dream Theater father, “Shaken (Not Stirred)”’s final breakdown is the album’s most brutal by far, “Telescope” features the album’s best rap performance, “Headfirst” is surprisingly melodic in its chorus, and “How Long?”’s acoustic intro is one of the album’s most shocking turns just by nature of how quiet and divorced from the rest of the LP it is.
But more important than the individual tracks is the album’s big picture (and this is where I run the risk of sounding incredibly pretentious, so please bear with me). Tallah have provided arguably the most convincing case for the continuation of nu-metal, by showing that the sound that was once thought of as juvenile can actually be used to great effect in the right hands. But it’s also more than just a nu-metalcore album. It’s a sound wholly unique, something I can confidently say has never really been done in music before. Its chaotic mish-mash of styles is the most refreshing breath of fresh air I’ve ever seen in music, a landmark moment both for metalcore and for nu-metal.
I don’t want to imply that all future nu-metal acts should take notes from Tallah, because their sound is only something a specific type of band would be able to emulate. But I will say that if more nu-metalcore acts take lessons from Tallah’s chaotic creativity, and inject their own music with some new life, the genre may be a permanent fixture for years to come. And that would be quite the incredible sight to see.
