32 1/2 out of 5
Teeph occupy a certain place in the world of "heavy music": they're too technical to comfortably be labeled "hardcore", but they're too spazzy and scrappy to fit neatly under the expansive banner of "heavy metal", leaving them in the "neither here nor there" subgenre greazy music critics dump confusing bands into, "math rock". Thankfully though, the Northern California three piece eschews classification and pretense by banging out unapologetic rock music that casts aside both the politics of punk and the scripted mayhem (and long-hairedness) of most metal in favor of a sound that culls the best of early hardcore (think 'Damaged I' by Black Flag) mixed with the dirt caked and chronically depressed Sludge Metal of Eyehategod. Tracks like opener "Nails and String" best exemplify this by condensing pummeling drums and shredding riffs with a well placed time shift all into a neat and clean two minutes. There are moments here and there where they touch on something post-metal bands Isis and Cave In excelled at by adding in driving instrumental moments, like the middle section of "Spirit Animal Planet" or the end of "Marijuana Chaos" that showcase their musicianship away from more abrasive material. All in all it does what it's name implies and delivers a solid piece of tempered aggression that never fully decides whether it's methodical in its noise or just grinding through by sheer instinct, but in the world of homogenized rock n' roll sometimes you need a kick in your lazy teeth. Oh I'm sorry... in your "Teeph".
http://teeph.bandcamp.com/
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