IWRESTLEDABEARONCE

Even though I've been a huge fan of Iwrestledabearonce's debut album for nearly a year now, I haven't had much interest in this early EP release. This would of course change once I did my review of It's All Happening and a friend of mine asked me if I've heard this EP, since it was -- "equally as great as the debut album material". This was when I began to wonder how I managed to overlook this EP and with only a few clicks though the iTunes store I purchased this 6 track collection and began exploring it.

With the first sounds of the the album opening Ulrich Firelord: Breaker Of Mountains it was clear that this was indeed the same band that I've learned to love on their 2009 album release. Even the sound production is just as gorgeous, which is something you can never take for granted from an early EP recording. The opening track is easily my favorite of the bunch since it takes me on a wild ride though layers on crashing drums and distorted guitars with another wonderful performance by Krysta Cameron on vocals. On top of that, this tune features a trance-sounding middle section that only shows that this band could write and produce excellent music even before making a full album. The only downside is the unnecessary cover of one very familiar classical piece added right towards the end of the track which gets tiresome upon repeated listens.

Alaskan Flounder Basket and Vlork: Mighty Wielder Of Sheep continue to coin Iwrestledabearonce's status as one of the most innovative new bands out there in the music business, even though neither of these performances can actually match the levels that they achieved with It's All Happening. Still Jolly After All These Years is a pretty weird compositions that sounds more like a mix between many different ideas, the same can of course be said about all of this band's material, which would have been great if they expanded on some of these directions instead of quitting less than 3 minutes into the performance. Corey Feldman Holocaust returns us to the more brutal side of things, but what were you excepting from a song featuring the name of the famous child actor Corey Feldman combined with the word Holocaust? The composition does loosen up pretty soon and the whole song can actually be labeled as one of this band's mellower moments.

Up to this point things have been pretty great. There might not been the high tops featured on It's All Happening but what we've got here could easily pass for a great early EP from a highly innovative band who are still finding their unique blend of Tech/Experimental Metal. So why would you want to destroy all this by adding a terrible remix track right at the end of it all? I literally have nothing good to say about the remixed version of Firelord Ulrich that feels completely out of place with the rest of the material and does more damage than good. These types of remixes are made strictly for the hardcore fan base who knows each of Iwrestledabearonce's songs by heart and therefore seek new thrills in the world of remixing.

**** star songs: Ulrich Firelord: Breaker Of Mountains (3:47) Alaskan Flounder Basket (2:45) Vlork: Mighty Wielder Of Sheep (4:49) Corey Feldman Holocaust (4:04)

*** star songs: Still Jolly After All These Years (2:40)

** star songs: Firelord Ulrich (Remix By Dada Yakuza) (5:40)