BEAR – ‘///’ (Album Review)
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Belgian math-metallers BEAR have made a name for themselves as Europe’s answer to The Dillinger Escape Plan.
With Dillinger set to split before the end of the year, the race is on to crown the new kings of mathcore. BEAR have already proven themselves as worthy contenders, and /// carves that fact in stone.
BEAR’s list of influences runs longer than just one band Read more…
According to the press info which accompanied this album’s descent into the depths of TMMP’s black hole-like inbox, this album’s title is “…longer than one of Kim Kardashian’s marriages.” No argument there. As for the music itself, Heights’ latest opus comes close to equalling anything Kardashian-related in terms of sheer drama and excess, while simultaneously being infinitely more interesting.
If it takes 3o years for a genre to be considered “Classic,” then mathcore is more than halfway to grey-hair territory. Considering that Calculating Infinity has been around for 16 years – and mathcore itself can be traced back through Deftones-style alt-metal, seventies prog and fusion bands, odd-meter-loving jazz maestros, and…well…heroin – it’s amazing that 
Weaponised bleeps and bloops. Gritty and filthy bass layers. Haunting synthetic melodicism. The kind of music that would haunt your dreams if you spent at least six hours playing retro arcade games and eating cheese before going to bed. A sense that you don’t really know what the fuck is going on, but you’re happy to stick around until you figure it out. 
BEAR know how to fucking rock. Tighter than a gimp suit that’s been left in the wash and as dense as a black hole’s singularity, on Mantiis Belgium’s loud-and-clear answer to the Dillinger Escape Plan take on desire, exploitation, and self-centredness via much brutal riffing and a no-nonsense video. Not for the faint of heart, but an undeniable blinder for the rest of us. 
A note-one winner. Melodic tech-metal with elements of Periphery-influenced djent and (on opener Ephemeral) a fantastic Tom Morello stutter-guitar moment kept me set on staying put for this LP’s full running time. I do not regret that decision. 
“Nothing’s new in music anymore!”