That Total Age

This debut features a sparse blend of clanging percussion, aggressive bass riffs, and impassioned screaming. In spirit, the music is industrial, yet it manages to avoid the cliches critics associate with the genre (such as overly processed vocals, and megadistorted guitar sounds). The songs dispense with traditional notions of melody and harmony, focusing instead on percussive innovation and rhythmic variation. Although monophonic synth lines comprise the only tonal instrumentation, the upbeat tempos, relentless vocals, and percussive embellishment prevent the arrangements from growing tedious. --Michael A. Massa