Fellow melodic post-hardcore bands The Blood Brothers and The Fall of Troy also feature frontmen swinging from the highest registers and mind-blowing technical precision. Frenetic guitars manning the foreground of perfectly orchestrated chaos? Contempt for sing-alongs? Pitch-black (and often gushing-red) lyrics? Check, check and check.
But with their second effort, this sextet of musical misfits actively lets their disparate influences run wild—that is, until they’re lassoed and introduced to each other in an industrial Cuisinart. There’s the piano-prog of “Is It Progression If a Cannibal Uses a Fork?” Ominous cabaret flourishes appear in “Lexington (Joey Pea-Pot With a Monkey Face)” and “Bulls Make Money, Bears Make Money, Pigs Get Slaughtered.”
Guitarist Jason Hale calls down a mechanical-metal apocalypse in “Teeth the Size of Piano Keys.” Strings bolster the majority of the mayhem, most noticeably the ballad (yes, ballad!) “Intensity in Ten Cities” and “If I Cut My Hair, Hawaii Will Sink,” a shape-shifting cyclone of cymbals, anxious time signatures, lusty moans, harmonious shouting, guttural growls and spin-cycle guitars evoking lyrics about wide-open spaces and bodies turning inside out. And speaking of lyrics, there’s literature-geek frontman Craig Owens’ Bukowski worship, woe-is-me aggression and eternal-gray-area sensibilities.
All’s Well That Ends Well was a firebomb of raw energy. Ignore Ballet’s played-out song titles and focus on the refined talent. You’ll come away with a few bruises, but then, that’s kind of the point.
Chiodos
Bone Palace Buffet
*** 1/2