BEECHER

The music sounds similar to The Dillinger Escape Plan and The Number Twelve Looks Like You, but with less finesse and more ferocity. It's hardcore with noise, metalcore and tech-like influences thrown into the mix.

While this album is rather good, it both pales in comparison with the follow up and suffers from a bad case of unclear direction with some really painful songs that feel out of place and very, VERY repetitive, much unlike "This Elegy, His Autopsy". There's also a problem with the length of the album, by the start of the album I always get absorbed by the fantastic vibe and energy Beecher express but as it goes on its hard to maintain this enthusiasm as the songs are rather similar in sound and structure.

An album that has amazing ups and equal downs. Very much a first record with all that it implies. A great start for a band that could have changed the face of tech metal as we know it. Well worth buying if you love the genre and should probably be avoided by those who don't.

2/5

Beecher's "This Elegy, His Autopsy" is an oldie-but-goodie from when I was a teenager and a musical period when I favored rhythmical hysteria and atonal riffs over anything else. I found Beecher on some sordid mix tape and instantly felt at home within their extremely noisy and aggressive tech/hardcore(closest thing to a genre brand I can come).

"This Elegy, His Autopsy" is interestingly more gritty and violent than their previous release "Breaking the Fourth Wall" which still had many moments of metalcore-like melody and harmony. Unlike most bands who turn to please a broader audience with a more radio friendly sound on their second album, Beecher dived deeper into their hardcore and noise roots. The result is astonishing, an album with fantastic kick and intensity. Sadly Beecher disbanded a few years ago and never had the chance to further explore the realms of what this strange blend of styles and skill could further evolve into.

As I listen to this album six years later I understand that I've outgrown it all somehow. I still feel at home within the screeches and howls, but that deeper sense of appreciation I felt then is now gone.

"This Elegy, His Autopsy" is an album for fans of extreme music stemming from hardcore and punk. For all you others; you are better of trying to find a door in to this genre from a more melodic source(SikTh is a great example of this).

A great album but mostly for fans of the genre!

3/5