XBishopX – Suicide Party

Out of most of the bands that I begin listening to, I can usually predict what they’ll sound like. This was not the case with XBishopX. I was expecting a hardcore sound reminiscent of Champion or Betrayed. They delivered on the lyrics(although I had a problem with them), but they had more of the metal-core sound than anything else. They reminded me of Cast Aside, but they lacked some of the flow and sheer awesomeness that I have come to expect from Cast Aside. XBishopX vocals are pretty harsh and they’ve got the whole group chant in the background. In most of the songs a breakdown will eventually break out and the song becomes all chuggy and repetitive. But I suppose that’s the magic of the palm mute and the two-step beat on the drums. There really isn’t much technicality on the guitarist’s part. The same goes for the bass player, although he is inaudible for the most part. The drummer sounds really good though. He’s very consistent, and I didn’t pick up any random banging, which is all to common nowadays. The double kick beats are good as well, its more quick triples and doubles as opposed to a crazy fast beat going for the better part of a song. Although the band is good, I felt that the album could be better. I really couldn’t stand the fact that they feel the need to excessively use swears in their lyrics. Swearing doesn’t bother me, but when “fuck” is replacing every word in what could have been a coherent, intelligent sentence that has the ability to deliver a certain message it does.

I’m not very sure if I do or don’t recommend this album. Although I really disliked the lyrics, when I play the CD I try to focus on the rest of the band. So my enjoying this CD really depends on my mood. For instance, when I started listening to this when I started writing the review, I was enjoying it. But towards this point, it’s simply becoming annoying. So XBishopX in small doses for me keeps me entertained, and when I come to think about it, I listen to a song or two off of this album quite often. Giving XBishopX a chance might be a good idea though, I recommend finding a song or two by them off the internet before buying the album though. But whatever you do, be sure to at least buy this album over say, Hawthorne Heights.