DERIVATIVE

This album has garnered a great deal of attention among the avant-metal / experimental metal circles and for my part I can't understand why this is.

To me this sounds relatively tame, rather simple and far too safe. In fact, this feels more like 'Dog Fashion Disco' than any new or fresh band. The album doesn't have the technical brilliancy of 'Ephel Duath' or the fully realized sound of 'Unexpect', it feels like a band that is still finding itself which is by no means a bad thing, but it shows in their haphazard use of various styles and sources.

My main issue with the album is with the inconsistency of the songs themselves, Songs like 'Mid-Summers Night Dream' and 'Through the Eyes of Jack Jordon' feel as though they belong on a three or even four star album whereas songs like 'The Ballad of Britney' and 'Billy's Little Baby' are completely repulsive, opting for typical extreme metal with a slight quirky twist rather than coming up with anything fresh.

I don't want to say that the album isn't enjoyable, throughout songs 5-9 I sat there with a dumb smile on my face absolutely enjoying the music and wishing the whole album was this consistently good so that it could get the three or four star rating I feel the band is capable of. As it stands though, this is a spotty and haphazardly created record that leaves the listener disoriented and without any real sense of the band.

2/5 stars

I began listening to Celebrity Sex Scandal around December 2013 and they quickly became one of my playlist regulars. Derivative is the band's debut album that was released in February 2013 and is easily one of the most addicting releases I've heard in quite a while!

My main reason for discovering the band was that I stumbled upon their Wikipedia page while searching for similar bands to Dog Fashion Disco. The band was apparently an avant-garde metal project started in 2011 by ex-Dog Fashion Disco guitarist Greg Combs and featured horns, which definitely intrigued me and I decided to put their album on my Spotify playlist. It didn't take long for me to become seriously addicted to this album and it continued to be a regular on my playlist.

Eventually I just had to go to the band's official site to see if they were selling any of their music or merchandise. I found Derivative at a serious bargain price of $5 (plus shipping) and so I immediately made the purchase. It took a few weeks for the package to arrive, since it was shipped from US to Sweden, but eventually I received the CD and continued to play it quite a bit. The packaging is nothing special, it contains the information about the recording and that's pretty much it. Still, I wasn't expecting much more than that for the price that I payed.

I'm honestly pretty confused in regard to my enjoyment of this album since it doesn't feature anything completely new or revolutionary. Sound-wise, Celebrity Sex Scandal is pretty much a continuation of Dog Fashion Disco but with a nice eclectic twist to their compositions. Dog Fashion Disco are known for their amazing vocalist Todd Smith, who can pretty much perform any vocal style that he puts his mind to and their horn arrangements. Celebrity Sex Scandal has even more horns, thanks to Mike Chia's and his memorable delivery, but the vocals of Justin Osburn are nowhere near as excellent as those of Todd Smith. Still, I view Celebrity Sex Scandal a well-rounded band that puts most of the effort in their compositions and lyrics.

Most of these song have their twists and turns and I'm sure that fans of eclectic metal will find quite a few favorites among these ten tracks. My personal favorites tend to change from day to day, even though the album opener The Prototype and dance-infusing Mid-Summer Night's Dream always tend to be up there on top. I also have somewhat of a love and hate relationship with Ode To Katy Perry (Extra Horny Version) (minus the obvious horn pun) since I tend to enjoy it a bit more than I should, considering the terribly catchy auto-tuned chorus section.

If you're a fan of bands like Dog Fashion Disco and Polkadot Cadaver or just have a serious craving for some eclectic metal music, then you should definitely give Celebrity Sex Scandal and their debut album a spin. Put all your reservations aside and just enjoy the trippy intro to The Prototype. If you manage to get through that then you should probably manage to get through the entire album in one sitting while expressing a huge grin on your face.

***** star songs: The Prototype (3:56) Mid-Summer Night's Dream (4:23) Through The Eyes Of Jack Jordon (4:13) Ode To Katy Perry (4:20)

**** star songs: Ballad Of Britney (4:27) Billy's Little Baby (3:38) Staff Of Moses (1:16) In Excess (5:16) Cruise Control (4:51) The Affliction (4:36)