INDRICOTHERE

The Indricothere was a massive cousin of the rhino that grazed in Eurasia about 30 mya and is thought to be the largest land mammal to have lived, males weighing as much as 15 tons. It's an apt name for Colin Marston's (BtA, Orthrelm, Dysrhythmia) one man EP that has him on guitars, Warr guitar and drum programs letting go with more chaos and noise than with his other projects, a bit less arithmetic, and plenty of creative juices as always. How this guy finds the time to almost single-handedly push the American tech metal movement forward - releasing CD after CD of quality stuff - without dropping dead from exhaustion is unnatural. Let's just be glad he is.

The five-cut EP is packed dense with matter and energy just waiting to be released. 'll' (the track titles are out of sequence) violently explodes with a penchant for Exodus-style thrash but more manic than anything that band ever did. 'V' moves into noisier waters and chugs through an extremely unpleasant landscape, like sliding down a mountain on a tire, 'lV' shows a touch of melody and trad. thrash, nice guitar harmonies, and nearly 10-minute 'lll' could be described as sheer desperation.

Mr. Marston continues making music for the thinking headbanger and with this one, we get equal parts Orthrelm and early period Metallica. You gotta love it.