THE JOHN BIRCH CONSPIRACY THEORY

Botch is a band that released 2 albums, 1 live album, and several EPs and splits before they disbanded and went their separate ways (Minus the Bear, These Arms are Snakes, and others). They were considered a Metal Core band, which is a very loud version of Math Core. Being put under Tech/Extreme Prog Metal in Prog Archives is an appropriate placement.

The music itself is definitely hardcore metal, but with a progressive edge. It's the vocals that I have a hard time with. They are non-melodic and screaming, at least when they are not field recordings. If you can get past that, the instrumentals are top notch, but they can be hard to listen to with the screaming. If you like that style, then you should be interested, but for me it ruins the excellent job by bass, guitars and drums. The best track on this is "O Fortuna" which is their extreme rendition of the famous operatic song. At least there aren't as many vocals on that one.

The music is definitely primal and loud. This particular EP is now available on the collection "Unifying Themes Redux" which combines 2 of the 3 EPs, the Botch songs on their split singles, and also some unreleased tracks. This is the best way to purchase the music, and that release makes this EP obsolete. We'll go two stars on this one, only because the instrumental parts are great, but the screaming is awful.