Choke – Slow Fade or: How I Learned To Question Infinity
Choke – Slow Fade or: How I Learned to Question Infinity
(Smallman)
Edmonton’s Choke have been at it for over 10 years now, and this, their 6th record, is inspired by this achievement. I was somewhat surprised to hear they’d been around so long, because they don’t sound enough like veterans to me.
“Slow Fade” doesn’t come together as well as a band of their age should. At times it sounds sloppy and in general I find the album poorly produced and dreary. Their guitar work has earned them the label of “tech-punk” but I’d say this album actually finds them wandering the edge of emo and hardcore. On several of these mid-paced songs everything seems to go off in its own direction as if the band members aren’t really listening to what each other are doing, noodling with their instruments for noodling’s sake.
On the plus side, there is a good deal of experimentation, atmosphere and rejection of traditional song structure. In this regard Choke sound like a mature band. I went and sampled some of their earlier material and heard many more faster paced songs than anything on this album. It would service this band to vary their albums a bit more, to thicken up their sound for the benefit of their singers, who are strong enough to not deserve coming across so whiney.
Choke are not a band to listen to on any whim. They’re a band you have to be in the right mood for, and I guess its obvious I haven’t been in the mood. If you like emo and hardcore with a bit more experimentation, or just want to hear what the longest-running Edmonton band since The Smalls sound like, give it a try. — Goon
Comments (10)
If you don’t know what your fucking saying than shut the fuck up motherfucker. Choke is the most technical band your ears have ever heard. TO me your just an idiot who does’t know music. No need to put you further down cause if you can’t undestand choke thant its a waste of time.
Posted by mike leaman on April 2nd, 2005PS. If i see you i kill you
“Choke is the most technical band your ears have ever heard”
99% of all death metal and black metal bands are more technical than Choke. Meshuggah improvise jamming are more technical than Choke.
“if i see you i kill you”
I just shat myself. I’ll never write again. Your pointed criticism and grammatical know-how have truly shamed me. I take it all back, including the first half of this post. 4 out of 4 stars.
Posted by Goon on April 2nd, 2005choke rocks thats all there is to it
Posted by c on April 5th, 2005If I knew the person who wrote this review i would print it out and make them eat it.
your retarded budd.
nothing rivals choke, and nothing has since they releasd “forward”. Your ming is just to primitive to understand or relate to this album.
Posted by Corey Macdonald on April 16th, 2005oooh… Interthreats! I love Interthreats.
My ming is pretty old, but I’d hardly call it primitive. I have a picture of it if you want to see for yourself:
Posted by Goon on April 16th, 2005oh heavens, link problems. but you must, you simply must see my ming.
http://www.youngmuseum.com/Large%20Ming%20Sancai%20Immortal.jpg
oh, wait wait wait… i see, you’re simply illiterate
“your retarded”, “releasd”. I get it now. Oh ho.
Posted by Goon on April 16th, 2005but seriously, if Choke is so great, can’t one of you easily defend it without simply calling the dissenting opinion “retarded” or “idiotic”, or resorting to physical threats?
Posted by Goon on April 16th, 2005Ahhh, Goon don’t listen to them. You’ve made your case and its case closed.
I’ll have to listen to this band before I make an official reply.
I’ve got a good ear for technical, since I’m a “avante garde / jazz fusion / progressive” type fan.
Posted by Baychuk on April 16th, 2005Ok…I listened to two songs…no, I would not call them technical…..they sound like Voivod “lite” when Voivod strayed away from heavy thrash…..Maybe Anacrusis “lite”…..Potential to be technical like Mr.Bungle or even Dillinger Escape Plan, yes they do.
Goon’s review is appropriate.
Posted by Baychuk on April 16th, 2005Hi guys. I find this stupid. Ok not everyone loves choke, and after? They are not idiots for that. Goon said what he thinks and I think it’s okay.
But for the album, I find that it’s really great. At the beginning, I was anxious. I loved the old style of choke (fast technical skate-punk) and this one sounded emo first. But I gave it a try and it revealed to be a very good album. Catchy, intense, melodic, and yes they are technical. They incorporate a lot of hard guitar patterns (I play guitar) behind the voice of the singer. And just listen to the drum beat : I asked a good drummer what to think about it and he sais that it’s really hard to play. So please give this album a little credit, it’s awesome and please don’t kill me if you don’t agree!!!
Posted by Bobby on April 6th, 2006Leave a Reply