The Relapse label certainly has a sweet tooth for h-e-a-v-y metal, and the 2007 release by the End,
Elementary, keeps the label's string of extreme releases in tact. But instead of never relenting on the intensity, the group borrows a page out of the Tool songwriting textbook, by offering waves of repetitious riffs that turn out to be a mood shapeshifter -- as evidenced by the album opener, "Dangerous." Singer Aaron Wolf has no problem adapting to the musical madness that swirls around him, whether it be screaming his brains out on "My Abyss" and "Awake?," or sounding an awful lot like a merger of Tool's Maynard James Keenan and
Incubus'
Brandon Boyd on "The Never Ever Aftermath" and "Throwing Stones." Viewers of Fuse will eat it up. ~ Greg Prato