Five Star Prison Cell -The Complete First Season

Mon 14th Mar, 2005 in Music Reviews

The Complete First Season is the debut album by Australian metal group Five Star Prison Cell. And what a debut it is! I have been listening to this album on repeat, and each listen is as exciting as the first. A large part of this album’s appeal lies in the fact that it bombards you from start to finish, but it is also a hell of an enjoyable listen. Now, I don’t know what the band’s recording process was like for this album, but it just sounds like they would have had a fucking ball.

The musicianship is top notch, sounding tight, chaotic and unapologetic all at once. From death growls to carnivalesque guitar riffs to thrash-metal drumming, the stop-and-start, chop-and-change action is ceaseless. You can’t get too comfortable with a riff or a drum beat, because the very next second it is taken away and replaced by a shattering roar or quirky musical break.

Parallels can be drawn at times between the singing style of Adam Glynn (formerly of Frankenbok) and Mike Patton circa Mr Bungle, but Glynn also belts out the roars like there’s no tomorrow and, with the assistance of occasional vocal distortion, sounds downright creepy on occasion. Comparisons have also been drawn between Five Star Prison Cell’s music and that of Dillinger Escape Plan, but I think this album can really stand out on its own.

From the word go, first trackThe Imparting of Wisdom Upon a Subject Turned to Stone, hits you with full force and then it is On for the rest of the album.

Vexed’s crunching guitars speed-up, slow-down and everything in between. Guitarist Marek Holain repeatedly astounds throughout the album, with the ability to change pace and style at the drop of a hat.

Sequels to an Aftermath isn’t as brutal to begin with, but the vocals are still warped and the chorus is delivered at breakneck speed.

Personal favourites off the album are the back-to-back tracks Failed Garrison and Cola. The former illustrates the crazy drumming abilities of Marc Whitworth. It’s another great, furious song and has Glynn sneering, “don’t you feel it slipping through your fingers?” against a backdrop of frantic bass, explosive drumming and grinding guitars.

Penultimate song Cola is, quite simply, the shit. I LOVE this song, as I’m sure my neighbours can testify. It couples nonsensical sounds with earth-shattering roars and has one of the best, thrashy choruses I have heard in metal in goodness knows how long. The drums are positively brutal. It’s also quite humourous with ‘pepsi cola’ being repeated in various intonations throughout the song.  

All in all, this is an awesome debut. Confronting, yet fun. Evil, yet humourous. Seriously, if Five Star Prison Cell’s live shows are anything like this recording, I will die of happiness. Long live Australian metal!