siLLy puPPy
Joining the not so crowded arena known as Nintendocore which is a strange hybridization of melodic metalcore and Chiptune sampling from video games, the bizarrely named Dallas, Texas based 2 HEADED CAT VS. UNICORN OCTOPUS followed in the footsteps of bands like HORSE the Band and Sky Eats Airplane to create some very strange music! This is pretty much the one-man band project of SX who plays keys, guitar, bass, drums, provides vocals of many styles and the incessantly frenetic video game sampling.
This debut EP is aptly titled “WTF?” which is exactly what you’re thinking while listening to this! While more texturally electronic than metal, 2 HEADED CAT VS. UNICORN OCTOPUS stick to the grindcore playbook when it comes to album length and this one is a mere 15 minutes and 10 seconds long with five screaming tracks that whizz by at the speed of light. This is heavy electronica indeed and lies somewhere between a standard raging metalcore band like Killswitch Engage and some of the most frenetic psytrance like Infected Mushroom except all the sounds are from video games!
For such a short album this is refreshing different and surprisingly diverse. While electronic sounds always provide a greater palette of sonic textures to paint upon the core canvas, the music itself ranges from the expected metal bombast as well as having soft lulling parts with soft gentle atmospheres. While the heavy parts are in full steam though, it sounds like an old school retro arcade with a million video game churning all those wonderful bloops and bleeps and electro-jingles only on hyperdrive!
Hardly a genre i’ve delved into, 2 HEADED CAT VS. UNICORN OCTOPUS has certainly woken me to the myriad possibilities of this sort of hybridization. Surprisingly this is pretty interesting stuff as it nosedives right into the electronic moshpit as if Atreyu crashed the rave and everybody just went along for the ride. While some might find this annoying, i have a taste for these sorts of extremities and really love all the SX just goes for it not giving the first flying fuck what anyone thinks. All i can say is WTF????