clothesline from hell - on ice
new album cycle from toronto’s best going.
20s numetal revivalism has largely been a repackaging of the visual aesthetic over watered down deftones pastiche. generally speaking this wave of artists have been missing the belligerence and eclecticism of influence that made numetal weird. maybe we aren’t allowed that sort of libido anymore but it’s disappointing the way that the aesthetics of this genre have been codified.
even at the top, korn, limp bizkit, and linkin park shared very little beyond self-loathing and love for faith no more. so why should new numetal be limited to hipster approved white pony worship?
on his new track, clothesline from hell rearranges the stereotypical elements of numetal into something his own. theres the linkin park guitar tone and that fucking snare and the angsty lyrics. but in the spaces left between the hard cut digi distorted strums, at the core of ‘on ice’ the vocals interlock beautifully with an acoustic lead. the elegance of the elliot smith melodicism at the center of the maximalist edgelord barrage gives the single its satisfyingly unique tension.
on this track, clothesline from hell writes a beautiful folk song. he could be exposing his major 2nds on a solo acoustic ballad, but he chooses to arrange a massive sample heavy track around his idea. on ice excites me because it is both a masterclass in minor key melody craft and a fucked collage of brainrotted cinematic drums and sputtering vocal chops. the production is deeply maximal but manages to keep its mix clean. clothesline from hell is more ambitious than his peers and it becomes clearer on repeat listens. numetal aesthetics are fun and they can even be used to craft a great song. can’t wait to hear whats next.
label liked the review enough that they typed it out at a readable font size lol. honestly sorry to 444 for making your potential pr material illegible !!
i write about music more as a compulsion than a serious pursuit. i tend to assume people are skipping over my grammatically fucked prose walls unless they’re rym masochists. that being said, i always appreciate when people read this stuff. i love theorizing about the music i love. i’m in the process of archiving all my old story writing to a substack rn. will hopefully have all those up in the next couple weeks. everything will be transcribed and will maintain my embarrassing all lowercase 2013-alt-lit-ass style. ill post when it’s online. love yall
