The Plastic Constellations "Crusades" (French Kiss)
By Kimberly Rosenbauer
Friday. Mar 24, 1:03 AM
Whoa, is '90s metal invading the indie world!?

Minneapolis-based The Plastic Constellations paint the picture of “every young kid who wants to passionately play music with his or her best friends and somehow move from garage to big stage by high school graduation.” This four-member band of best friends has indeed known each other since they were 12 and have been playing together since the ripe old age of 14 (PS: this makes the boys 23).

While this sounds all hunky dory, the risk here is that, with the same band members you’ve been sharing pizza with for the past 10-plus years, there may be little growth. Fewer opportunities to challenge each other, and more chances to get stuck into a pattern of trying to perfect rather than expand.

On Crusades, the band’s third album, this risk is very evident. The overall sound is akin to the ‘90s fading metal scene… rusty metal. Guitarists Aaron Mader and Jeff Allen specialize in “dueling guitars,” there’s an abundance of scream-singing, and the lyrics are very obviously trying to make the band seem exceedingly tougher than they are.

Perfect example is opener “Phoenix and the Faultline.” It starts with a loudly accentuated drumbeat and guitar chord that slowly fades away. So dramatic, it honestly transported me back to my favorite track on 1991’s Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey Soundtrack: Slaughter’s “Shout it Out.” Man, I loved that song. Anyway, “Phoenix and the Faultline” then proceeds to use the aforementioned choral scream/singing on the lyrics “we’re not goin’ to the belly of the beast / with straight staccato we’ll shake it ‘till it bleeds.”

Okay, so you get my point. We’ve all heard this kind of music before and a) it’s been out of style for 10 years and b) just not going to launch the group into fame’s limelight unless there are ridiculous costumes and equally ridiculous levels of vanity involved (read: The Darkness). However, the more I listened to the album, the more inner conflict spawned within me, and I was finding myself randomly humming some of the melodies. As it turns out, The Plastic Constellations are very, very skilled at what they do. They do have numerous memorable hooks to remember, and drummer Matt Scharenbroich creates a drive in every song that manifests into an abounding energy that is only matched by the building guitar solos and passionate vocal lines. After four or five listens, it IS 1991 again! I DO like heavy metal once more, and no longer do lyrics like “30 miles below the face of the earth / the seconds tick with the crack of the whip / we should have never been so eager to embrace this abyss” matter to me. Additionally, the fact that the phrase “belly of the beast” is sung more than once in different songs seems to be part of the thrill as well.

Now that I have come to terms with all of this, I can see that one of the best songs on the album is “Sancho Panza.” The track begins with a huge guitar sound by way of the two lead guitarists playing the same half-step melody. Underneath the lyrics, Jordan Roske’s strong and even bass line comes in, gluing everything together. What makes this song even more interesting is the contrast between the very unlayered verses and the layered choruses, only to be followed by interludes filled with full guitar sounds. And okay, the chorus lyric is kind of appropriate here: “There’s nothing worse than ordinary.”

Closer “Bring What You Bring” is another strong song. It begins with a single guitar melody which continues as all the other instruments slowly join in, building and building until the lyrics begin. There is a very lively (but brief) jam section toward the end with all instruments involved that parallels the song’s expanding and contracting energy levels.

The Plastic Constellations seem like the kind of band that is amazing live. Their long history only supports their musical talent and performance skills. Like I said before, however, neither this album nor the band’s music style is for the masses. There are a few tracks that might draw some in like they did me, but well-rounded and “modern” – shall we say – listeners are going to have to set aside certain key factors to see the talent that lies in… the belly of the beast?
www.theplasticconstellations.com
www.frenchkissrecords.com

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Kimberly Rosenbauer

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