This track starts out with a pretty insane level of intensity. The worldly and almost live sounding bongo riff is quite appealing, it gets you looking forward to the music and the vibe that will follow. The music quickly shifts into full gear, these distorted synths and heavy beats collide and ring out. There’s actually not a whole lot of bass during the verses and intro, which is noticeable, and does in fact give the track quite an enjoyable break from the massive overall sound of the chorus.
The band don’t sound like anything else I’ve heard in recent years, I can only otherwise think of Insane Clown Posse; perhaps it’s just the image and the harshness. So, for what it’s worth, there’s definitely an element of this being Nothing Personal. This is their sound. They do what they do and there’s actually a lot of creativity and freedom between the beats. The production is well worked for this kind of music, everything mixes pretty effectively, breaks away and builds back up at the right moments.
I’m not a fan of the anger entwined within the lyrics, but that’s something which is defiantly personal (contrary to the title of the song). The cowbell was a little bit of a vibe breaker for me as well, but aside from these fairly minor things, there’s a lot of character, a lot of experimentation, and a pretty effective hook. Strangely effective, actually; not so much a melody, just a big sound, and the memorable repetition of This One’s For You. It works, I imagine they’d get their audience going full throttle at a live show – gigs being a pretty big part of this whole kind of music scene. I like the way there are soft and hard sections to the songs, rather than entirely heavy, and also not falling back to some clichéd or cheesy acoustic verse – as mentioned, the organic beat and the vocal flow, they grab your attention. It’s intriguing, musically, and that’s always a good thing.
By Rebecca Cullen
