Pressure 4-5 combine and interesting mix of vocal driven rapcore with extra focus paid to harmony and overall song progression. The group can bring together alienated sounding rhymes with voracious screams, grinding guitars which at times can also serve as a spacey ambiance and drudging basslines all mixed over top of solid drums and the odd guest appearances of turntables. Somewhat reminiscent to Fractional Importance this band isn't too easily compared to most of today's mainstream crop. Vocals courtesy of Adam bring about a true sense of being isolated and cut off from everything else, very powerful yet very lost sounding, he goes through all the motions with dark and heady rhyming verses featuring changing tempos, shattering screams and dampened emotional outcry's. A true authentic feel surrounds his vocal tone and the music feels very much focused around his constantly shifting emotions, he stays well within his ability and experiments but doesn't tax himself and in turn the restraint he shows proves his skill is well crafted. Mark's guitarwork is up in the frontlines with odd ambient screeches and slicing almost looping riffs coming caked with distortion and a attention put to pauses and off time strums which serve to make the music structure all the more chaotic, yet he does this with an almost hidden agenda of preciseness filling in the gaps and letting the other instruments have their share of the spotlight. An interesting style which at first feels too ambitious, after a few listens the complexities of his unique playing shine through and make the music all the more enjoyable. With the music being very vocally charged Lyle's bassplaying would have to come in second for the most prevalent element in the music. A heavy low tuned groove constantly rumbles throughout the songs resonating throughout all parts serving as the spine for the songs. A more plodding approach is taken with repeating note hits rather than a more dynamic style, yet it seems to do the songs justice for the most part. Drums come with a moderate tightly tuned feel with an in-depth amount of cymbal and highhat work as well as rolls evenly dispersed throughout the snare and toms providing for a very well constructed addition to the already well layered auditory environment. The uncredited guest appearances of turntables ghostly surface throughout the album with an odd medium between a straight hip hop stylings and an out there ambient approach setting the pace. The technique shown more or less focuses on scratches and the odd sample and fits nicely in the lurching musical compositions this band creates. Standout tracks from the album would definitely be "P.M.A." which features a staccato drum/bass intro reminiscent of old Korn but with a slower pace, the song also provides a slippery feel that can best be described as the aura of drug induced paranoia. Another standout track would be "Dripping" which features a spiraling breakdown that can bring to mind Spineshank on a more mellow howl vocally as well as elaborate turntable work and strong song structure variation. The band definitely has built a sound that is all their own, but something that works a bit negatively against them is the almost consistently slow pace to all the songs, although they do break off into relatively heavy elements all the tracks seem to keep an almost depressed monotonous tone which instead of building up and releasing lets the music just sprawl out flatly with little attention put to instrumental dynamics and instead relying solely on the vocalist's mood swings. Although not a bad thing a little more insertion of some faster paced riffs to accompany the more up beat parts could bump up the energy level of the tracks a notch. All things considered this is an impressive release and if anything serves as a sign of better things to come. Pressure 4-5 stray from the combination of funk and rap and instead bring about a more sludgy grunge reminiscent rapcore styling, definitely different and interesting, this release should not fail to open minds to new musical ideas.
(4 / 5)