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Life & Arts

Test Icicles heat things up with latest effort

by ENRIQUE DOMINGUEZ
The Daily Cougar

Its album cover explains its sound best ? a ransacked apartment room of sound with everything from musical instruments to discarded Domino's Pizza boxes scattered across the floor. UK buzz band Test Icicles creates a noise that fuses post-punk, electronica, metal, emo and hip-hop onto a set of aggressive yet danceable tracks on its first full-length release, For Screening Purposes Only.

Test Icicles, formed in 2004, is comprised of three musicians who have lived in different parts of the globe and have experience in other musical endeavors. (One of the members, Devente Hynes, was actually born in Houston, but moved to England as a child.)

"Catch it!" is reflective of their cultural influences. The track begins with an aggressive assault of death metal and sexually explicit lyrics, but then goes street when a thumping electronic bass line comes in alongside Hynes's hip-hop vocals and rapid guitar riffs.

For Screening Purposes Only combines Death from Above 1979's brand of funk metal with The Blood Brothers' dual vocalist screaming feuds. "Boa vs. Python" begins with a danceable drumbeat layered with organs resembling those on the Brothers' latest experimental album Crimes.

The highlight and most cohesive track of the album is "Circle Square Triangle," a dance-punk tune where the instrumentals sound like The Bravery's "An Honest Mistake" fronted by the high-pitched squeal of The Blood Brothers' Johnny Whitney. 

The violent but groovy song will have listeners moving to lyrics like "Blinded by the burning lights / Turn them off, turn ‘em off / Bodies break before they're white."

Test Icicles are the black sheep of the label Domino Records, which is home to more hipster-style, neo-new wave acts, but they bring a palette of sound that is creative and exciting. 

For Screening Purposes Only may take punk rock instrumentation to a new level, but the album's aggressive nature makes it sound redundant after the halfway point.

Test Icicles have proven they can live up to the hype, but only time will tell if they can make it past their moment in the sun.

Test Icicles

For Screening Purposes Only
Domino
Verdict: Icicles makes for cool UK export.
 

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