FAIR TO MIDLAND — Arrows & Anchors (review)

Album · 2011 · Alternative Metal

4/5 · 2011-06-29
Time Signature

Uh-oh...

Genre: prog/alt metal

Imagine Queensrÿche playing alternative metal. "Okay", you say, "but that's just 'Hear in the Now Frontier', and that sucks". Fair enough. Then imagine Queensrÿche playing alternative rock and actually being good at it.

Aha... there you go.

On this release, Fair To Midland combine the type of progressive metal associated with Queensrÿche (and before I get lynched, I am a big fan of Queensrÿche, but I just do not like albums like "Hear in the Now Frontier", because they abandoned everything that was otherwise interesting about their music) with alternative and grungy metal along the lines of Alice In Chains. Fair To Midland take the best from these two worlds and wrap the finished product in a heavy modern sound. And it works brilliantly.

There is plenty of crushing riffage throughout the album, some of which is quite heave, some of which is quite groovy, some of which is quite melodic, some of which is quite simple, and all of which is quite good. Certainly one of the strengths on this album is the riffage. Another strength is the choruses, many of which are very melodic and catchy such that, if you do not know the lyrics, you can still hum along (okay, with a track like "Uh-oh", where the chorus is actually "uh-oh" you don't even need to worry about knowing the lyrics).

This is one of those releases which points in a lot of different directions but which still has a coherence-generating red thread, such that the listening experience is a varied, but not bewildering, one. For instance, a track like "Whisky and Ritalin" is a sort of uptempo track with an amazing main riff, while "Amarillo Sleeps on my Pillow" combines outback banjo-and-fiddle with groovy metal riffage and 90s alternative rock volatility (and, yes, this is actually a kick-ass track). A track like "A Loophole in Limbo" sounds particularly inspired by Jethro Tull and combines the Tull feel with melodic modern metal, while "Short Haired Tornado" and "Golden Parachutes" share traits with modern progressive pop/rock acts like Muse and Mew, and a track like "Rikki Tikki Tavi" combines crushingly heavy riffage with mellow 70s prog rock vocal melodies and nu metal madness.

Fair To Midland very successfully manage to take all the best elements from several types of modern alternative rock and alternative metal and combine them with more accessible progressive metal, the result being their very own brand of metal which, by the way, is also characterized by humor - or insanity, you pick - which I appreciate a lot. The choruses are big and catchy and the riffage is heavy, and everything is interesting. Still, I miss guitar solos when I listen to this album, as I think they could have contributed even more to the originality of the music.

This release is recommended to fans of alternative metal and more accessible progressive metal, and - while Fair To Midlands and Coheed & Cambria sound nothing alike, I think that fans of the latter might also enjoy this album.