SHAPES – The Pasture, The Oil (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

October 1, 2009 by Dennis Amith 

“An album that teases you with its changing transitions.  Hard hitting, frantic guitars and bass and where other bands could have easily screwed these changing transitions in each track, punk band SHAPES second mini-album ‘The Pasture, The Oil’ manages not to be your typical rock band with a predictable sound.  Your ears will definitely be in for a treat as this Birmingham trio can seriously, frakkin’ play and make these changing musical transitions like childsplay when its not. Definitely an album worth checking out!”

BAND: SHAPES

ALBUM: The Pasture, The Oil

LABEL: Big Scary Monsters/Zankyo Records

DURATION: 42:57

RELEASE DATE: May 4, 2009

1. Trampled by a Horse
2. The Escapologist
3. Our Children’s Children
4. The Moon Is Bright, But Coned Off
5. Such Stoics
6. You Butcher

The Birmingham-based rock trio known as SHAPES has been getting quite a bit of buzz with their latest mini-album “The Pasture, The Oil” courtesy of Big Scary Monsters (UK) and Zankyo Records (Japan).  The band which consists of Steven Bachelor on guitar, Richard Buckley on bass and Gavin Filmer on drums return with a heavy hitting album.

Hot from their 2008 album “Get Your Learn On EP”, the band began recording on this mini album back in January 2009 with Nick Finnish (Jonny Truant, Blakfish, Youves) and mastered by Alan Douches (Converge, Mastodon, Dillinger Escape Plan, The Rapture and Fallout Boy).

The mini album kicks off with “trampled by a horse”, a short but hard hitting instrumental track that similar to the video, you can easily picture destruction or in many ways, after listening to the album, I can picture the song while getting amped for something extreme as the guitars are being played with fluidity with drums and bass complimenting the soundscape. Very awesome track!

The second track “The Escapologist” features a vocal track but it’s the music that takes the grand stage as chiming guitars, bass and percussion go off on tandem with each other. As everyone starts singing and screaming, a very cool track!

The third track “Our Childrens Children” is another vocal track that goes through really cool musical transitions and for the most part teases you with its heavy hitting sound but then transforms bit by bit to something much calmer and then jacks things up at the last minute.

The fourth track “The Moon is Bright but Coned Off” is a spacy, rockin’ instrumental track that has that ethereal feel but with the musicians balancing their instruments off in cool fashion. Overall, another solid track.

The fifth track “Such Stoics” is a vocal track that combines frantic to jump guitars with dynamic percussion and mind-numbing bass. Similar to “Our Children’s Children” in the fact that you are getting teased with different musical transitions. Every 25 seconds you feel that you are listening to something different and the band manages to pull it off.

The final track is titled “The Butcher”. A vocal track that features abrasive guitars that works together with the vocals, while you get a good dash of bass and clattering percussion. Overall, another solid track!

Overall, an album that teases you with its changing transitions. Hard hitting, frantic guitars and bass and where other bands could have easily screwed these changing transitions in each track, the punk band SHAPES second mini-album – ‘The Pasture, The Oil’ manages not to be your typical rock band with a predictable sound. Your ears will definitely be in for a treat as this Birmingham trio can seriously, frakkin’ play and make these changing musical transitions like childsplay when its not. Definitely an album worth checking out!