If music of today was primarily formed and based upon one singularity of musical genres it would, I imagine, be pretty dull. If you added a secondary dimension to the equations the resultant solution may be a slighter quirkier mix to the proceedings. Many bands have stuck to the first of these ideas and have brandished their creations with startling effect. Music which has been stripped to its fundamentals and produced something extraordinary! An equation which serves well to those who understand it and use it wisely.
Some however, delve deeper into the realms of experimentation. To seek and discover new and unheard of mixes and blends. Some of which are so diverse and rich that hearing is believing. To add two as we know is exotic, to add three or more is unequivocally brave and wholesomely bold! For Screening Purpose Only - Test Icicles have combine hardcore punk, doom metal, hip-hop, funk, avant pop, 400bpm gabba and created something that invigorates and re-energizes.
One of main influences for the album came from a gangster movie called Thicker Than Water. Released in 1999 the film is about a couple of drug dealers trying to make it big in the music industry. Source has it that in section of the film a legend flashes on the screen stating " For Screening Purposes Only " Herein lies where the band got the title for the album. Other influences which have been beneficial towards the creation and formulation of the album have been Slayer DVD's and Metallica's Some Kind Of Monster documentary. Here in lies the doom metal element to the ideas which have been laid down on the album. Evidence of these metal giants being the driving force behind Test Icicles comes in the format of Boa V Python, Savagely heavy with deep, dank, dark undertones.
Track of the album comes in the form of Maintain The Focus. This hell raiser brandishing pit forks and waves huge bolts of lightning in his hands and uses them to devastating effect. This track has oodles of hardcore punk mixed in. The guitar wielding servants known as Devonte Hynez and Rory Aggwelt's machete-sharp metal licks give this song a whip crack like effect.
The limit to which the band has gone to produce this album is a clear indication that these guys are willing to run the extra mile to produce something further a field. The combine genres works to match the insatiable appetite with which the band will go to feed it's overwhelming and uncompromising hunger.
A track worth noting is the opener Your Biggest Mistake lyrically this is a sublime in detail, understanding how to deal and cope with a multitude of emotions without being able to reach out and get help. " In my head - nothing stays/ regret fills - me everyday/ but if no one's listening/ then i'll be okay!/
First single released from the album was Circle.Square.Triangle this number gleams with a glitter ball effect, drenching the immediate and surrounding area, which is currently under a spell to gather momentum to fuel a hunger to drink and drink and drink, then maybe dance a bit, but only if you still have the ability to co-ordinate all your limits so that you can move and perform some kind of movement which vaguely resembles dancing.
One of the tracks that really caught my ears was Sharks! This little ditty has again got that dancey edge but at the same time the thrusting metal guitar riffs attacks your senses. Leaving you to feel as if your floating alone in the sea, clinging to a piece of drift wood, watching and waiting for help to arrive, knowing that near by swims a deadly foe!
The record wipes the board clean, leaving behind a work surface for fresh, new, bright, clever, independent and insightful ideas to be brought forward and put into to practice. Ideas so advanced and adventurous that the band are pushing the boundaries of a generation that are looking for the next sound, the next level. Listen to the eleven songs here and you will enter a new dimension that shines and glows like the birth of a new sun.