RANDOM

"The Most Pleasant Nightmare" begins with a fairly minimalistic percussion part before a guitar riff comes in. This riff is elaborated upon with bass and more percussion and before long clean vocals enter the mix. After a while the vocalist belts out a long scream after which the music slows down a little bit and there's a section of growled vocals. The music has a very math-metal feel to it, with a variety of rapidly switching rhythms and motifs that still feel very technically accomplished if not 100% perfectly cohesive. Midway through the track the heaviness pulls back a bit and there's a more delicate guitar solo which is soon joined by more clean vocals. It's a nice contrast with the heavier beginning of the track and the vocals are very good, but it doesn't totally gel with the super-technical sound of the first section. Overall it's very well performed, though, even if the songwriting doesn't seem quite 100% to me yet.

"Walk The Twisted Line" is next, beginning immediately with a pounding, heavy riff that's joined pretty shortly by vocals. The thing that I really enjoy about Random's vocals is that their vocalist doesn't just have a "clean" voice and a "growled" voice; he sings very much on a spectrum, and how distorted the singing in often reflects the emotion of the music. It's a neat technique that I haven't heard too much. Musically the song switches between very heavy, almost mechanical riffing and slower, more emotive sections. I personally find these slower sections much more effective, but I've never been a huge fan of that kind of heavily riff-based tech-metal to begin with. Nonetheless, it is very well done, and I think "Walk The Twisted Line" is probably a little more cohesive than was the first track.

"Expressive Logic" is the last track on this little EP, as well as the longest. Beginning with a spoken word sample, the track starts off on a kind of heavy, jazzy feel, with a groovy bass line and some wild drumming behind the guitar riffs. There's an almost 4 minute instrumental section that begins the track before some very raw sounding vocals enter. The riffs in this section are some of the heaviest on the entire album, and I really can't stress how insane the drumming is in this track. About halfway through the spoken word section returns, seamlessly interwoven with the singing, which is just as brutal as the guitar part. With about three minutes left another instrumental section starts, and the precision of the musicians is really very impressive. The mood changes after about a minute, pulling itself out of the bone- crushing riffing and taking on a much cleaner sound, which the vocals also reflect when they reappear. Intensity builds back up as the song reaches its conclusion, and finally the track ends with a drone of guitar distortion. It seems like a bit of a sudden cutoff, but it's hard to fault such a good song for such a minor flaw.

So in my mind, at least, the last track is really the highlight here, but the first two tracks certainly aren't bad either. Insofar as this is Extreme Prog metal, it probably falls a bit closer to "extreme" than "prog," but I still think most prog fans should find plenty to like, especially in the final ten minute track. A nice little chunk of music and a great demonstration of what Random is capable of.

3/5

So, with a name like Random, I'd have expected this band to sound... Random. But, nope, this is very well structured progressive metal with huge leanings into the alternative metal sound. I can't easily compare the sound of this band with other progressive metal bands, but I can compare their sound with bands such as Slipknot, Mudvayne, Nothingface, or a few other bands that you probably don't like. But make no mistake, this is not a nu-metal band; this is simply very heavy, groovy, progressive metal that would be easily accessible to fans of the aforementioned bands.

Todo.s Los Colores Del, though being heavy and groovy, throws in a few interesting instrumental quirks that make this album a bit more progressive than it would've been otherwise, without sounding too random. The first example of this would be the track "Tururu" which incorporates a type of dance riff that reminds me of Astor Piazzolla or the infamous song "Aquarela do Brasil", padded by moments of crushingly heavy groove riffs, and later develops into considerable moodiness before returning to crunchy Boris-like doom riffing - this is also the longest song on the album. The rest of the album is similar, adhering to crushing riffs that alternate between slow doom-metal sounding to jump-da-f***-up alt-metal grooves while also incorporating lighter moods, very catchy (and rather manly) vocal melodies, and skillful/ interesting drumming.

I'm not usually so satisfied with metal, and when I do listen to metal it's usually either Atheist, Cynic, Sadist, Pestilence, or any of my handful of nu-metal albums. Todo.s Los Colores Del, being a more progressive and wholly more interesting version of my (inexplicably) beloved alternative/nu-metal genre, has risen to the very top of favorite metal releases of 2011, and probably also my top metal releases over the past few years as well.

Random from Tucuman , Argentina released their first full lenght album this year named Todo.s Los Colores Del. Well, besides the fact that their are young and eager to make waves around them in music bussines, I was not very impressed about the music offered here. I mean I don't like this type of so called progressive metal, is to modern in aproach for my ears and to metal core aswell. Even the music is well played and trio handles very ok the instruments, the ideas and aswell the arrangements, did almost nothing to me. The album is powerful, noisy, rough almost goes towards tech/extreme in places but alternates ok with more mellow parts, but not fantastic, the progressive metal elements are to few but in place are lots of metal core parts, a thing that is not my cup of tea. I don't want to put against the wall this band, they are young, talented and with the future ahead, but to me nothing remains only to skip this record and give 2-2.5 stars. There are good and enjoyble parts that I like on Tururu, heavy piece with crunchy riffs and mellow As Far As Impossible, the opposite goes for instance on the first two pieces Cachafaz and Elchi, Johnis totaly unlistenable, I hard times listning from start to finish. So, an album that for other reviewers ment a lot, and I see that is praised and rated higher here, in contrast to that I was realy bored, maybe because I don't like this kind of so called progressive metal that some bands embrace today At least the cover art is great

On "Todo.s los colores del", Random play alternative/ progressive metal. The tracks are very complex in structure with multible parts and innovative ideas but still Random manage to keep the tracks catchy and memorable. They successfully walk the delicate line between being technical/ progressive and being catchy and powerful. Random incorporate elements from groove thrash, alternative metal and progressive metal into what I think is a very unique style of music. Random are obviously very skilled musicians and pull off the stylistic changes with ease and elegance. The vocals by lead vocalist/guitarist Raúl García Posse are varied. He is able to deliver both really aggressive and raw vocals, more melodic raw vocals and beautiful clean singing too. His vocal range is actually quite impressive and a great asset to the band´s sound.

The album is very well produced and the sound production brings out the best in the music.

"Todo.s los colores del" is an eclectic listen and for those who like genre blending adventurous music it´s a great listen. Some tracks sound slightly patchy because of the many sections and ideas thrown into them, but I´d call it a slight issue and mostly it´s actually quite charming that you don´t know what´s in store for you. The band have chosen to write their lyrics both in their native language and in English and I think that combination works very well for them.

From the mellow and beautiful "As Far As Impossible" to the heavy and groovy "Cachafaz" to the progressive "Tururú", "Todo.s los colores del" is through and through a great album. Powerful sound production, excellent musicianship and adventurous songwriting. There´s not a single reason why this album should receive less than 4 stars.

Argentinian act Random fall into the second category, as they completely disregard all genre boundaries within the universe of metal. There is a bit of thrash metal, a bit of djent, a bit of metalcore, a bit of groove metal, a bit of alternative metal, a bit of grunge, a bit of sludge/doom, and a bit of extreme metal as well as hints of industrial metal, noise rock and melancholic indie rock - and they are not afraid of very melodic 'oohs' and 'aahs' either.

A lot of the riffage is crushingly heavy and Random are very good at combining simple, almost grungy riffage with more complex odd metered and rhythmically ambiguous sections, and this juxtraposition of heaviness, simplicity, uptempo-ness, and complexity generates a very dynamic feel to the music, and this dynamism is made even more evident via Random's insertion of clean and mellow passages, as well as more soundscape-like, jazzy, funky, and whatnot sections ('Tururu' is very much epitomic of Random's eclectic brand of modern progressive metal and full of all these changes, passages, moods and feels). Much of the riffage is, in addition to being solid and heavy, also quite groovy, and metalcore fans can look forward to a lot of crushing quality breakdowns - but Random certainly does not rely on breakdowns, they just use them very effectively to general dynamism in their music with tracks like the melancholic almost atmospheric track 'As Far As Possible' and the acoustic 'Cuando el blanco no es color' popping up amongst the heavy tracks.

All tracks are very dynamic in structure, as is the whole album, as Random are obviously skilled songwriters who have very broad backgrounds of inspiration, which shines through in their music. The performance is top notch on all accounts, to, and the production is wonderfully organic (especially the drums) and unpolished, yet it is clear and well-defined.

Progressive metal really seems to be expanding these days, as younger progressive metal artists start drawing on sources of inspiration that do not figure in more traditional progressive metal, and if you like artists like Fair to Midland and White Walls, who are know for their alternative metal-based approach to progressive metal, you are certain to like Random, too.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)

The word 'random' brings to mind, a lot of mental and musical imagery. Sporadic, jagged, and even nonsensical, the word is used to describe everything that is unpredictable, uncertain, and unplanned. Now, the band Random and their music are not quite as unexpected as the name may suggest, but there are definitely more than a fair share of surprises on this debut album from the Argentinian trio. Firing from a wide range of different angles within the metal world, the verbosely titled 'Todo.s Los Colores Del' is an incredibly eclectic hour of music that surprised and even shocked me at times; but most of all, it has left me feeling very impressed by what the band has accomplished here.

'Todo.s Los Colores Del' goes through a few different stages within the course of the hour, with each section gravitating towards a different stylistic approach. Random's sound is very diverse, and throughout this album, I was hearing everything from Pantera to Tool to Meshuggah to Primus to Mr. Bungle and even The Mars Volta and Pink Floyd. Despite being a fairly newcoming act, Random has already mustered one of the most exciting sounds I've heard from a debut album this year, although most of the sounds they make here can be traced to a fairly explicit origin. Hearing such a wide range of influences thrown together was very exciting, and Random makes sure to emphasize that they don't adhere to any one trick. On the whole, there are plenty of surprises here that couldn't all be concisely touched upon, but 'Todo.s Los Colores Del's first half draws mostly from alternative metal and thrashy grooves. Some of these ideas are executed pretty strangely, with the strange electronic lead of the first song's intro played out of sync with the rest of the music being a great example. There is Gojira's heaviness here, and when the band decides to get really intense, I was hearing the sort of slap bass quirk that Primus would use. It was really exciting stuff.

The second half only gets better. Here, the band tones down their thrashy edge and gets more adventurous. There is a much greater atmospheric vibe to the music on the latter part of the album, as well as a lean towards the harsh post-metal sounds of Tool and palm muted riffs of Meshuggah. It was here where I started noticing how diverse the band really was, especially towards the middle of the album where I was hearing latin rhythms and psychedelic soloing that could easily pass for the handiwork of The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. As far as gripes here go, the whole thing is phenomenal musically speaking, with some incredibly intense moments that impressed even someone who is now well-passed being a veteran of metal music. The album does seem to close out in a somewhat anti-climatic fashion, continuing to build up and then simply fading out quickly, which- even after listening to the album several times- still does not feel right to me. The biggest thing here that could have been a little better are actually the vocals, which at times sound perfect for whatever style they are playing in, but when the band gets heavy, I was not too impressed by the pseudo-melodic thrash vocals, which sounded out of key and therefore, very out of place on an album that consistently dazzled me on an instrumental level.

'Todo.s Los Colores Del'- suffice to say- has been a real jolt of fresh energy for me, and something that took several listens to grab me. There are a few faults here that I really hope the band deals with, but here is a real grower of a debut album, and I now eagerly anticipate what Random does next with their sound.

Random is a young Argentinian progressive/alternative thrash metal band hailing from Argentina, who fuse numerous styles ranging from good ol' 80s thrash to alternative metal to djent to progressive death metal and more, making a truly eclectic and varied blend of metallic mayhem to greet your ears upon a first listen of their debut full length album, Todo.s los Colores Del (or, All the Colors of?), which easily blew me away. The three piece easily formulates sections of fast moving thrashy parts, extremely heavy near- gurgling low-range guitar riffing parts, quirky alternative metal parts, technical progressive metal parts, and endless other quips of style peppered throughout the dense ground work of heavy, heavy, heavy metal. The entire album is a wonderful display of the three guys' talent, both instrumentally and compositionally.

The album opens with a "Cachafaz" (Spanish for "rascal"), which is a great gauge of the style of the rest of the album. Opening with some industrial sounding electronics which is then complimented by some intense riffing, which switches between various styles willy- nilly and different levels of heaviness (all staying quite heavy throughout), the song shows the band's capability to write a generally insane, heavy, and progressive track with ease. Although the song's structure is a bit haywire, with the countless ideas and riffs within the song seemingly just slapped together in a truly eccentric and eclectic way, dueling the song as an absolute mess musically and a mind blowing journey of slap-happy progressive metal, the song is a great display of the band's talent, with the music being perfectly balanced between emotion and technicality (although the quirky aspect of the music makes it seem a bit silly at times).

Much of the album shares a similar style to the opener, with the epic 11 minute "Tururu" laden with heavy as all hell riffs and rapidly shifting styles, the softer "As Far as Impossible" adding a wonderful dynamic to the heavy music, and the melancholic and beautiful "Cuando el Blanco no es Color" (or "when white is not a color," I believe) adding another solemn dynamic to the album with very deliberate nylon acoustic work and atmospheric vocals and other instrumentation. Throughout the album this eclectic blend of heavy and occasionally light moments makes the album a real treat for fans of the "artsy" side of heavy metal.

In the end, Random's Todo.s los Colores Del is an incredible ride. As I've said many times, three guys obviously have a huge range of influences as the album contains within its 56 minutes a near uncountable number of eclectic and diverse sounds that all mesh together into one truly wonderful product. Although at points all these influences seem to boil over and the band has a hard time connecting all of their ideas into a cohesive piece of music, the album still flows with a wonderful aura of maturity in the riffs, composition, and production of the album. Being a debut, I was wary of what the quality of the music would turn out to be, but the band seems to have nailed the production wonderfully, with a great blend of clean sound and slightly damp atmosphere to give presence to the heavy, deep guitar riffs, intense rhythms and rumbling bass lines that make up the trio of musicians. This combined with professional music make this album a true gem in the progressive groove metal genre, and setting this new band on the path to great things. 4 stars.

Random is a new band from Argentina who combines extreme brutallity with melody and flair. The metal here is very technical. The more melodic melodies has a lot of jazz feeling. In other words; a pretty heady twenty two minutes, divided on three songs. The longest one is over ten minutes long.

The sound and production is excellent. It really throws a punch and is really adding a lot of value to this EP. Also, the vocalist Raul is delivering a top performance. Both on the death grunts and the clear vocals. The same can be said about the other musicians too. Top stuff.

The music is a bit anonymous in my ears. But there is no doubts this EP should be an essential download (get it for free from their homepage) for anyone into brutal metal. Random has arrived and that big time with this EP. I hope the album is as good as this one.

3.5 stars

All of the music here is well written and interesting, and the musical performance from the band is top notch, with Marcos Crosa's drumwork standing out as exceptionally good. The vocal performance is also noteworthy as their is clean singing along with the hardcore shout/growled vocals, that should make this more appealing to people who are interested in trying some Tech metal but not a big fan of the vocals.

I personnally love all the songs on this release, but for me the defining moment of this album is during the epic, Tururú, where the band is playing what is nothing more than a interesting breakdown, before this electronic undulating synth comes in. The drums start to roll almost chaoticly beneath the synth. I had to rewind and listen to this part multiple times, it gave me shivers up my spine (in a holy sh*t kind of way). Another standout is the song, Cuando el blanco no es color, which I think says translated, When the white has no color or something to that effect ( my Spanish is not the greatest ). This song is a amazing acoustic song with clean singing, and an added touch of violin playing at the begining. This song strikes me as really melancholic.

This is an album that should not be missed, one that should be in your Prog collection.

Random mixes alternative rock/ metal with technical modern metal/ thrash metal. Bands like Tool and Meshuggah comes to mind more than one time during the playing time but Random have quite a unique sound that sets them apart from their influences. The vocals by guitarist/ vocalist Raul are really strong and varied too. He is able to deliver both alternative clean rock vocals, rough metal vocals and really raw distorted vocals. He is one of the rare breed of extreme metal vocalists who are able to deliver really raw vocals yet sounding melodic at the same time. The three songs The Most Pleasent Nightmare, Walk The Twisted Line and Expressive Logic are all high quality compositions. Filled with adventurous ideas and playing. One moment we´re treated with some mellow alternative rock and the next we´re smashed in the face with a load of angry sounding heavy thrashing riffing. Add to that some brilliantly played technical sections and you´re just about there. The samples in Expressive Logic work really well too and add great atmosphere to that song.

While the vocals, as mentioned above, are a real treat IMO, I won´t forget to mention the outstanding musicianship. We´re talking some really accomplished musicians here. Not only do they know their chops ( and probably in their sleep too) but they are excellent composers as well. They strike the delicate balance that is so important when you mix alternative rock/ metal and extreme metal. I´ve heard tons of acts that does the same thing but many come off sounding like weak emo thrash/ metal ( and yes that´s a bad thing in my world). Random are very different from that scene and not only do they show lots of muscle but they also show lots of brains too ( Just listen to the opening riff in Walk The Twisted Line for proof). In other and more vulgar terms Random are capable of kicking your ass while challenging your mind at the same time. Just my type of music.

The production by Ramiro Rodriguez is really impressive too. This has got to be one of the best productions I´ve ever heard on an independent release. Fully on par with some of the better studio productions by signed acts.

Prrimo, the is an outstanding first release by Random and I will chose to not just call it promising. This EP is EXTREMELY promising. Such a high quality product commits though and I expect to be greatly impressed by the debut full-length studio album when that is released. For now Prrimo, the has been one of the best surprises I´ve had in a while and it´s hard to imagine that the EP comes as a free download. If there´s any justice in this world Random are bound to be signed very soon and given the opportunity to release their debut album on a label with international distribution. A 4 star rating is well deserved. Now go download and spread the word.