Pitbulls in the Nursery - Lunatic (Dig) (CD)

All Music Guide

While Pitbulls in the Nursery have a thoroughly American name, they hail from the gritty suburbs of Paris, France. Lunatic is their debut album they were signed on the strength of a threetrack demo. There's good reason. Pitbulls in the Nursery (despite their rather stupid name) have a solid drumheavy attack. It's tribal, ferocious, and full of twists and turns and knotty, freakedout guitars. The nitro track, "Lente Agonie," is a couple of minutes of creepy, strange, dislocating, and tense sound effects wind, an odd keyboard sound, birds, jungle animals all shattered by the entrance of fearinstilling kettle drums (courtesy of Jerome Farion) and atmospheric loops. It is followed by the crunch, thud, and hammer of a drum kit and riffing guitars cracking the mix wide open. It's all great until vocalist Panda (Julien Foucault) begins his lowerthandirt "singing." It is de rigueur these days to have a frontman who cannot do anything but growl. But truly, given the fresh, wildly inventive m...usic the Pitbulls play, they might have invested more properly in a singer. Elements of Meshuggah and Death are in their sound, but it's far more compelling than mere influence worship. Dynamics, textures, ambiences, and that guitar sound place them head and shoulders over the morass of genericists. Check how "Strong," one of the most aggressive allout thrashers on the set, gives way to the ethereal "Antagony." "Calibrated" is so far out there it's almost impossible to classify except for those vocals, that is as the gnarly quickstep and fast stops and starts create multiple parts within the same tune. Guitarists Simon Thevenet (Saim) and Mathieu Commun (Mat) work well together, shaping and sculpting intricate lines that carry rather than overwhelm any given composition. There are some idiotic things here as well, such as the track called "Monkey's Masturbation," which is pretty much your standard bonecrunch metal. Lunatic is a surprise album from a band that arrives on the scene almost fully formed. - Thom Jurek, All Music Guide Read more Less