Band : Jovian
Album : Carnivore (EP)
Release Year : 2011
Release Year : 2011
Genre : Post-Hardcore | Progressive | Experimental
Tracklist :
1. Evacuate Soul
2. Carnivore
3. Time Bomb!
4. Bulletproof Tiger
5. Fangs
Jovian is a post-hardcore/progressive rock band from Louisville, KY (USA). The band is comprised of guitarists Nick Spencer and Colin Fien, Kyle Steffen (drums), Caleb Corrill (vocals) and Boogie J. Lesse (bass/vocals).
Carnivore shows a more focused band growing into their own shoes and continuing to push the boundaries of the quickly drowning post-hardcore scene.
While the dual clean/scream vocal approach becomes more watered down by the day, Jovian's seamless transitions between Caleb's gruff, shout-oriented screams and Boogie's soaring cleans reminiscent of PMToday's Connor Brogan are executed with precision and layer perfectly together. Their tones play nicely when their lines run into each other, and on their own stand their ground. The screams are filled with catchy rhythms and the cleans laced with memorable melodies to hook listeners in. The lyrical content ups the ante for every band out there with strong, unique metaphors and a willingness to call out the woes of modern society and inner struggle finding a place within it without sounding cliché. Boogie's melodies immediately stick with lines like "I don’t mind these lonely nights, a guilty conscious throws one hell of a fight" ("Carnivore") and "So place your bets. You call she checks. I’m going all or nothing" ("Time Bomb!"). Caleb's screams even have their shining moments with high articulation on "I want to rip myself open just to see what’s inside. If you’re asking me, yes, my sanity is fine" ("Fangs"), which sticks out in the mix really well and hits hard as soon as it comes.
As the vocals hold down the front of the mix, it blends perfectly with the technical, off-kilter musicianship coming from the other members. There's solid use of delays ("Pretend Listener") and stop-starts ("Fangs") along with ambient lead lines ("Bulletproof Tiger") to fill up the room during some of the sections. "Pretend Listener" even has a key change in it that flows fairly nicely, which was a nice surprise as most bands can't pull it off very smoothly in any sort of rock music these days. Over the course of the seven songs, Jovian really hits on a lot of different sections of metal and post-hardcore and the interlude track slows things down with a female/male vocal duo to calm things down before "Fangs" closes things off. No instrument is left out of the mix and their vast use of all the facets of their surrounding genres help pull Jovian above the rest in their songwriting. Even the breakdown in "Bulletproof Tiger" doesn't feel contrived and doesn't sit on one long chug-chug-chug note. There's a sense of urgency and tastefulness that never let's the songs rest or get too comfortable. It keeps things fresh throughout.
Still young and ambitious, Jovian's second release brings a whole new smorgasbord of treats to gorge upon. It soars up, and it drops low, but it never gets stale or bitter. Stepping into their own shoes, Carnivore poises Jovian to conquer modern post-hardcore and steer it in a new and fruitful direction. -getanearection
2. Carnivore
3. Time Bomb!
4. Bulletproof Tiger
5. Fangs
Jovian is a post-hardcore/progressive rock band from Louisville, KY (USA). The band is comprised of guitarists Nick Spencer and Colin Fien, Kyle Steffen (drums), Caleb Corrill (vocals) and Boogie J. Lesse (bass/vocals).
Carnivore shows a more focused band growing into their own shoes and continuing to push the boundaries of the quickly drowning post-hardcore scene.
While the dual clean/scream vocal approach becomes more watered down by the day, Jovian's seamless transitions between Caleb's gruff, shout-oriented screams and Boogie's soaring cleans reminiscent of PMToday's Connor Brogan are executed with precision and layer perfectly together. Their tones play nicely when their lines run into each other, and on their own stand their ground. The screams are filled with catchy rhythms and the cleans laced with memorable melodies to hook listeners in. The lyrical content ups the ante for every band out there with strong, unique metaphors and a willingness to call out the woes of modern society and inner struggle finding a place within it without sounding cliché. Boogie's melodies immediately stick with lines like "I don’t mind these lonely nights, a guilty conscious throws one hell of a fight" ("Carnivore") and "So place your bets. You call she checks. I’m going all or nothing" ("Time Bomb!"). Caleb's screams even have their shining moments with high articulation on "I want to rip myself open just to see what’s inside. If you’re asking me, yes, my sanity is fine" ("Fangs"), which sticks out in the mix really well and hits hard as soon as it comes.
As the vocals hold down the front of the mix, it blends perfectly with the technical, off-kilter musicianship coming from the other members. There's solid use of delays ("Pretend Listener") and stop-starts ("Fangs") along with ambient lead lines ("Bulletproof Tiger") to fill up the room during some of the sections. "Pretend Listener" even has a key change in it that flows fairly nicely, which was a nice surprise as most bands can't pull it off very smoothly in any sort of rock music these days. Over the course of the seven songs, Jovian really hits on a lot of different sections of metal and post-hardcore and the interlude track slows things down with a female/male vocal duo to calm things down before "Fangs" closes things off. No instrument is left out of the mix and their vast use of all the facets of their surrounding genres help pull Jovian above the rest in their songwriting. Even the breakdown in "Bulletproof Tiger" doesn't feel contrived and doesn't sit on one long chug-chug-chug note. There's a sense of urgency and tastefulness that never let's the songs rest or get too comfortable. It keeps things fresh throughout.
Still young and ambitious, Jovian's second release brings a whole new smorgasbord of treats to gorge upon. It soars up, and it drops low, but it never gets stale or bitter. Stepping into their own shoes, Carnivore poises Jovian to conquer modern post-hardcore and steer it in a new and fruitful direction. -getanearection
