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| REFLECTIONS IN B MINOR (2006) |
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Taken from Toxic Pete.co.uk Online ezine
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The midley titled, limited edition, 'Reflections in B Minor' is a real heavy bombshell fest of monster metal. Don't be mislead by it's charming title which conjures up images of calming melodic soundscapes - this aint nowhere close to that!
Aptly named RSJ (builders and engineers will know exactly what I mean) dish up their scary take on 'hells music' here. Massive, anguished wailing and screaming driven to the limits of man's vocal abilities by disaster zone guitars and a frenetic rhythm section. Metal heads will love this. Those who find find metal just a step too far will find this, well, a step too far really.
'Reflections In B Minor' is the devils' Kitchen of an album. RSJ cook up and serve toxin laden riffs that could blow down walls and lay waste to eveything within a hundred yards of the epicentre - just up the volume and feel the earth shake. Oh, and there's the lyrics. Well they're in there somewhere - I just haven't managed to grasp a single one yet!! And, that's one thing I find particularly infuriating about this genre of rock - what's the story..? However, whatever's going down is going down in some style - this album is well recorded and crisply produced and the five RSJ's certainly get things sorted - one way or another!
Whatever the rules are for metal mayhem, RSJ seem to stick wholeheartedly to them regardless of anything or anyone. 'Reflections In B Minor' is one of those works that will appeal to a certain cult set of head bangin' ravers and rockers. RSJ will surely cause loads of brain cells to be permanently damaged through listening to their musical wares.
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(Translated from Dutch)
Test Switch Isolator and RSJ are both on the Casket Music label and Test Switch Isolator was disappointing so I expected the same from RSJ. But hell, was I wrong! Although what they do is done a lot the last couple of years, British RSJ convinces you with their heavy mix of Meshuggah and Zao riffs. Add the intense hysterical screams of Dan and you have an album that competes with the heavy monsters from the other side of the ocean. The power of this four piece is that they can hold the tension with calm chords like they do in the middle of “Dodger” or in the Isis-like intermezzo “Structure in 7/4”. In the heavier songs they sometimes choose the low and slower way and concerning the breaks it seems they live in the same street as their American colleagues of The Acacia Strain.
Their overall approach reminds me a little bit of how the British maniacs of Johnny Truant structure their music. Not that they copy them but finally another band in this new genre that can hold the stranglehold tight. It makes RSJ one of the best exponents of the British continent operating in the new school of brutal metal/hardcore. Check out the nine minute closing song “Progression Through Regression” and you’ll know what I am talking about. This song sums up everything what RSJ stands for.
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(Translated from German)
Over 3000 pounds invested in petrol, almost 3000 smoked cigarettes, hundreds liters of beer and 39 public sexual moves: just some humorous facts that are being displayed on the website of the English band RSJ. Does it give us extra information?! I don't think so. But hey, it is funny!
But where they display some sense of humor on the opening page of the website, they are a bit more serious when it comes to their music. The record 'Reflections In B Minor' is one of those releases that will stay in your cd player... Until Meshuggah releases a new record. RSJ displays some amazing progressive metal, which gives you
enough power to survive for months. The influences of Meshuggah are clearly available, especially on 'Structure In 7/4', which contains some riffs we've heard a few times in the past from these Swedish godfathers. That doesn't mean this record sucks. Hell no, it will blow everyone away! Powerful metal with a lot of experimental influences and a vocalist who simply knows how to use timed vocal hooks, without getting known as a 'screamer'. Besides that there's a fresh amount of hardcore added to it, which reminds you the most of the psychotic speed freaks of Raging Speedhorn. By the way, they've also done some shows with that band...
'Reflections In B Minor' is a progressive sounding record of a level you almost never hear these days. Psychotic, though refreshing, and hard enough to 'smack you in the face'. Maybe there are some people that feel fucked by the split-up of the Dutch band Isle Of Man? Well, this band is an awesome
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Taken from Channel 4 Teletext cheap mans internet (27/09/05 - page 357)
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York, Best known for the Jorvik Viking Centre and the National Railway Museum, oh, and vikings again. This sounds like the soundtrack to a nordic invasion
"RIBM" violently throws together the sort of choleric noise Godflesh, RSH, Iron Monkey, The Dillenger Esc Plan regard as their own.
The worlds at their feet - Sounds like their ready to demolish it.
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Taken from Zero Tolerance Magazine Issue 008 (NOV/DEC 2005)
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Imagine Meshuggah, Will Haven and Gutworm thrown into a glass tank full of really pissed off wasps. RSJ would be the squirming, shreiking, contorting outcome of such an equation.
I am now only left to work out what RSJ stands for (Really Short Jeans or Random Sexual Jokes maybe?), and also be scared about the end of the press release pornographically announcing that "RSJ is coming..."!
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Taken from CD Services UK online Ezine
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Uncompromising hardcore that pummels you senseless with lefts from the bass and drums, rights from the guitarist while the vocals finish you off with the killer blow.
Yet their is a method in their madness, order in the chaos, and amid the terror, moments of clarity that make you realize there really is a human soul inside here - somewhere! Most of the album takes the original standpoint of "hard and fast", as the punishing rhythm section provide rifle-fire foundations as the molten mass of guitar riffs and roars its way to oblivion. The vocals are shouted, shrieked and strangled, occasionally even sung, all combining to make this exactly what the audience wants. But, with so many bands around doin this stuff, the audiences become ever more demanding, more discerning, so to be at the top of the tree, you can no longer rely on an all-out assault - and this lot doesn't.
Throughout the brutality you'll find hidden areas of angular rhythmic twists and turns, moments of comparable respite as arrangements take unexpected directional avenues, all of which makes you sit up and realize that even in the harsh world of hardcore, there is room for invention and humanity. This one touches your soul - at the same time as wrenching it from your twitching corpse.
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Cold, dissonant and grating, RSJ's Reflections in B Minor is a psychotic slap in the face if you're not ready for it. These guys are so clearly pissed off that their chaotic music hurts to listen to.
Sounding sort of like a mix between Raging Speedhorn and really angry, spastic hardcore, the music on Reflections in B Minor boils, calms and boils again before you're ready. The band is masterful at driving quiet portions into the middle of songs that are otherwise hard-charging and brutal. It gives the band some extra depth and keeps the listener riveted and waiting for the next destructive riff.
"Dredger", "Skylines" and "Dystonia" best demonstrate RSJ's ability to play with the listener this way. If these tracks don't loosen your teeth a little, "A Theme for Murder" ought to, as the blast beats on this one hit so hard you could swear that the band's playing a pile driver on your head.
Though RSJ have created a heavy and very hard to listen to album with Reflections in B Minor, it's pretty much impossible to say anything bad about the disc. It's heavy, it's unforgiving and it's relatively surprising. A pretty solid start for this band.
Reviewed by Peter Johnstone
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RSJ have been doing it the old fashioned way, lots of touring in lots of sweaty dives, picking up fans as they go, releasing low key EPs and demos, slowly making a name for themselves with their brutal metal, bordering on hardcore, and picking up support slots with the likes of Biohazard, Raging Speedhorn, and Orange Goblin. And now it's time for their debut LP.
They've managed to conjure up a unique-ish sound, with only tenuous comparisons to the likes of Isis bearing fruit. It's a raw, visceral, yet earthly metal, overlaid with gutteral vocals and just enough widdly bits to show that they know their way around their instruments. They do pander to the modern split vocal approach, which can be irritating, but second growler, bass player Matt "Ramblin'" Gamblin* doesn't tread on the toes of lead singer Dan C too often. *That's not his nickname, I just made it up.
It gets a bit repetitive in the middle, but when they hit their stride - "Blood and Sand" and "Structure in 7/4" being the best - you can't resist the raw, naked force. If you like it hard and fast (steady at the back!), then this is for you. One of the best new British bands around.
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This young British quartet (vocalist Dan C., guitarist Vaugh Thomas, bassist / vocalist Matt Gamblin, and drummer Rich Hardy got together in 2003 only) has already seen nice things happen to them. First, their "The Day After" EP already gained worldwide sales through the band's website, and helped to set a solid UK fanbase. Then, the band got to play alongside such great live as Funeral For A Friend, Murder One, Biohazard, Raging Speedhorn, and Orange Goblin, before a 2-week UK headlining tour and a split EP in 2004 gained the band a support tour with US Metalcore band Unearth. This again led to the band's first US release with a track on the "Raw Aggression" compilation (on Rotting Corpse Records). It was closely followed by "Blueprint For A Brighter Future", another 4-track demo, which not only saw the band getting quite some attention from the music industry, but also gained them a sponsorship with ESP!
And now their first official release has seen the light of day (UK streetdate September 26). Listening to the 12 tracks on the album certainly makes clear the diversity of the bands they already played with, because in a way the music, described by the label as "...unapologetic, brutal and groove laden Metal. Fluid rhythms, mammoth riffs and gut-punch drumming flurries vie for your attention, while guttural vocals rip at your eardrums...", is quite comparable to the Hardcore based stuff of the likes of Catharsis and other such bands of the more Progressive side. Even Isis comes to mind, although there's an emphasis on groove rather than on intricate musical pieces! Just like in those cases, the music alternates between calmer, almost acoustic, passages and the more agressive ones, which only emphasizes the brutality even more.
It shouldn't be a surprise that, with only the one guitarist, the bass player comes to the forefront a lot as well. The vocal pallet sees some additional colouring in the fact that there's an additional growler in bassist Matt, and lead singer Dan also does the occasional 'normal' bit as well! And there's a rare sample bit too! This is a band to be looked out for! Momentarily the band still concentrates on the UK and Ireland (they plan a full tour later this year), and so we, continental Europeans, can only hope the foursome make the desicion to spread their music on a larger scale pretty soon after, so they can grace our stages and clubs with their presence! Should be quite the experience, indeed!
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The first time I heard RSJ was the sweaty 4 track EP 'Blueprint for a brighter future', and the raging power blew me away, and now the band have reproduced that surging metal 12 times over with adrenalin surging metal of the addictive kind, with flowing rythms that will suck in your pysche and convert you to the RSJ method.
The first tune 'its gone to far to turn back now' does exactly like it says and grabs you by the throat slamming you around the room, the grip relaxes on the second song as the band get into their stride with 'Blood and sand' and the rythmic sweeping sound bleeds through the grit as the pain lessens, song three 'Dreger' pummels your remains and drags you around the room with brief stompings to remind you that you are still alive whilst gorging forth a dark evil rythm, song four, the 'Structure in 7/4' displays questions of the incredulous kind, I particuly like the nine minutes of rythmic steel in track twelve. RSJ have cast their steel into a rythmic blast of beautiful hard proportions which will not let you down.
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Since forming back in 2003 RSJ have picked up a lot of fans through a series of low-key EP releases and it's all for one very simple reason: metal doesn't get much more brutal than this.
Rich Hardy's powerhouse and ultra-tight drumming links perfectly to Vaughn Thomas's often dischordant, skull crushing guitar and Matt Gamblin's rumbling bass. Dan C. tops is off with vocals that tear through the air and smack you in the face.
RSJ are a force to be reckoned with but you are always going to lose, so just submit.
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Having grabbed our attention with the impressive 'Blueprint For A Brighter Future' EP and kicked up a storm with numerous UK headline shows and slots with the likes of Biohazard, Murder one, Orange Goblin and Unearth over the last 18 months, York based noisemongers RSJ are now back with their full length debut LP.
As much a collective juggernaught of powerful noise as before, album tracks like 'Dredger' and the edgy, strangely hypnotic 'Delusions Of Popularity' smash their way straight into the subconscious.
'Dystonia' continues the onslaught in fine fashion, jagged chord structures creating a dark atmosphere topped off with some harsh, pained vocals and a poweful rhythmic undercurrent, it's a glorious noise and with bands like Will Haven having exited the limelight RSJ could fill the void nicely for lovers of the more extreme side of UK metal.
I'll qualify that though - as extreme as 'Reflections...' is, RSJ deal in a brand of good wholesome battering and smothering atmospheric noise, they arent another one of these horrible Dillinger-a-like bands I encounter on bills so often these days, all high strapped guitars, chicken walks onstage and needless attempts at being quirky.
Nay, RSJ don't fuck about like so many of these stylised no marks, they simply fire out mammoth riff after mammoth riff of dark, tense, scathing metal and for that we love them and you should too.
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RSJ are one of them there noisy bugger bands. With staccato rhythmic shifts underpinning a furious, bitter metal assault, it's like Dillinger Escape Plan slipped Neurosis some speed and they ended up brawling through a rehearsal room. Nasty, dirty and noisy.
There seems to be a bit of a slew of this kind of thing at the moment - not that that's a bad thing, unless you're into Europop. In which case, you're a cunt and should be strapped into a chair in an abandoned warehouse and made to listen to this on full blast while a mofo goes ballistic on your testes with a blowtorch. The band would probably approve.
As I say, they're not the only band doing this kind of thing but RSJ do have the chops to live with the very best and most musically articulate of their competitors. "Reflections In B Minor" is like being subjected to a hammer attack! and liking it!
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Taken from Sandman Magazine October issue
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With this album title there are obviously some tongues wedged so firmly in cheeks that their faces will have formed a perfect triangle on the side of their heads. With a title like "Reflections...." you'd be forgiven for assuming that the music contained within was the sort of noodly, jazzy wash that your Mum would be irritated by if she got it for Christmas. "You think i'm past it, don't you, you little bastard!" She cry.
Fortunately RSJ have stuck with doing what we all know they can do: Namely creating a vicious, metal racket. At a guess the band would have come across Slayer at some point in the past and quite liked it, maybe even a bit of Napalm Death. There's not a lot of concession to melody but it's tighter that a Gnat's chuff at a cavity search centre for Gnat's and it's bloody loud.
Rigid Steel Joists are well handy for holding things upright, RSJ, on the other, sound more proficient at taking roofs off. Grr
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