Point for The Five Deadly Venoms in the category of originality, but then again, this is nothing that could entirely redefine the genre of indie rock. A lot of these tunes are bass driven and toppled with a flow that flies in fifty different directions before the next track in hits. So there's a lot of complexities and tempo changes going on, like if these guys were from DC, this record would probably be on Dischord Records, maybe. One thing that lacks on
Shapeshift is the energy and ability to just grab your attention; but to be fair at least The Five Deadly Venoms do their own thing rather than having to go out of their way to please all the jaded music critics in the world. ~ Mike DaRonco