Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

LEFT BRAIN

Experimental/Post Metal • United States


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Left Brain picture
Left Brain biography
LEFT BRAIN is a Albuquerque-based band that formed in 2005 and has since then quickly risen to a prominent position in the Albuquerque and New Mexico music scenes. The journey began their debut 7-song EP "Bury The Facade", which earned the quartet nominations and awards amongst the local Metal community.
The band has evolved quite a bit since their early days and although it is not an easy task to categorize LEFT BRAIN into a specific assembly of genres, their sound does possess a number of elements that can be distinguished and categorized. One thing is certain; there are a definite progressive elements in the band's sound. LEFT BRAIN's guitarist, John ALLEN, has described the band's sound as following --- It's metal when it comes down to it. So the sound is an orgy of styles because we are always probing for the new. It's darker and emotional so it represents the positives and damaging points that developed throughout our zany exodus.

After parting ways with their former vocalist Tristin ROGERS, LEFT BRAIN has chosen to move towards a completely instrumental approach, which can be heard on their 2010 album "Solipsism". Their new sound might have lost some of its Alternative Metal aspirations of the past, but has instead acquired a clear leaning towards Post Metal.

After several lineup changes, the current members of LEFT BRAIN include guitarist John ALLEN, bassist Michael "Dr. Thunda" CLIFFORD and drummer Giann RUBIO.

Biography by Rune2000

LEFT BRAIN Videos (YouTube and more)


Showing only random 3 | Show all LEFT BRAIN videos (1) | Search and add more videos to LEFT BRAIN

Buy LEFT BRAIN Music


LEFT BRAIN discography


Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums

LEFT BRAIN top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.00 | 1 ratings
Solipsism
2010

LEFT BRAIN Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

LEFT BRAIN Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

LEFT BRAIN Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

LEFT BRAIN Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

2.00 | 2 ratings
Bury The Facade
2007

LEFT BRAIN Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Solipsism by LEFT BRAIN album cover Studio Album, 2010
4.00 | 1 ratings

BUY
Solipsism
Left Brain Experimental/Post Metal

Review by Rune2000
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

— First review of this album —
4 stars Some bands would have felt completely lost once their vocalist leaves the band, luckily Left Brain is not one of these bands! The lineup change seemed to inspire the team to take their initial Post-metal sound to new heights. This was of course after the band made somewhat of a try at finding a new vocalist. The search did result in one hilarious post on their official website, more on this in my review of Bury The Facade.

Musically, Solipsism is in a whole different league compared to their EP from 2007. I actually heard this release a few days prior to Bury The Facade and was surprised, upon hearing the EP, that this was the same Left Brain as on Solipsism. This is not just an album filled with instrumental Post-metal music but rather a collection of Experimental Progressive Metal material where every new track is as slick and versatile as the previous one! Some compositions might seem too short for their own good and end rather abruptly, but there isn't really a single instance where I've had the opposite reaction. Plus, I honestly didn't feel the need for this music to have any vocals since the trio does quite an excellent job of keeping the material self-sufficient.

Bill From Los Lunas is the only moment where Left Brain break out of their established style and do a short voice-over tune that can only be described as Tool-like filler track. Luckily this is more of an exception than a rule and the rest of material, leading up to the album's end, gives us a nice portion of Experimental Metal that we've got accustomed to throughout the album.

Solipsism can easily be described as the best thing that has happened to Left Brain. The instrumental material finally manages to push the band away from the position where they seemed like mere imitators and moved them to their own unique style that I hope they will build upon in the years to come!

***** star songs: Rivers (4:02) Kings Misfortune (4:12)

**** star songs: Kali /Emanations (5:19) Io (4:25) APO/ATAR (1:01) Druid (3:16) Yggdrasil (The World Tree) (4:12) Empire of Oblivion (6:05) Daath (3:30) Delirium Tremens (3:45)

*** star songs: Bill From Los Lunas (1:14)

 Bury The Facade by LEFT BRAIN album cover Singles/EPs/Fan Club/Promo, 2007
2.00 | 2 ratings

BUY
Bury The Facade
Left Brain Experimental/Post Metal

Review by Rune2000
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

2 stars This is one completely hilarious album experience! I honestly couldn't keep myself from laughter the first few times I listened to Bury The Facade. It's not that I'm disrespectful of an artist's hard labor but I honestly doubt that anyone can listen to this EP and not think of a particular four letter word. The four letter word I'm talking about is Tool!

Tool is definitely a band well worth admiring but it really sounds hilarious when another band goes out of their way in order to rip off such a familiar sound. What makes things even more fun is the band's website blog post. Back in 2008 when Left Brain's vocalist Tristin Rogers left the band and before the band decided to carry on as an instrumental trio, they did post an ad on their site where they specifically told that they were looking for a new vocalist with musical approach similar to that of Tool and A Perfect Circle!

Hilarity aside, I actually don't consider Bury The Facade to be a terrible release. Let's face it, there aren't enough albums out there that resemble the Ænima-era Tool, which just so happens to be one of my all time albums. If anything, Arisen is one of the best imitations of Eulogy that I've heard so far and the rest of the material does feature enough hooks to keep me entertained throughout this album's 30 minutes running time. The four tracks towards the end are supposed to be interlinked but the only think that that unifies these tracks are their transitions, so don't get your hopes up for a spectacular finisher of any sorts.

Left Brain definitely show that they have the chops to master reproducing a familiar sound that I've learned to love so dearly throughout the years and even though I enjoy it, there's just nothing here that I can recommend to anyone who isn't already a fan of this particular style.

**** star songs: Arisen (4:35) I. Limerence (1:42) II. Hindrance (2:08) III. Persephone (5:24)

*** star songs: Take What You Need (4:47) The Waste (7:23) IV. The Cleansing (4:18)

Thanks to Bonnek for the artist addition.

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.