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Virginia, North
Carolina, & DC

Malachai: These Sounds of the Spirit World
[4XBeaver]

Warning: This is NOT the Sacramento metal band by the same name, although the album title would lead you to believe that these guys weigh 125 pounds and wear X-Large, black Bathory t-shirts. This album is essentially a collection of songs that Mike Fossum (the mastermind of this musical outfit from Lexington, KY) wrote and recorded between 2000 and 2003 which is the exact reason why one song will sound like BS2000 ("Draw These Legs") and then some songs ("Hailure" and "Eye of the Tiger") sound like The Briefs. On "Love a Man," you can sense a Cake-influence during Fossum's white-boy rappin' party vibe. It has that G-Love and Special Sauce feel, which is irresistible to some folks; however others might claim that rock and funk have not been allowed in the same room since the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

There are some tender moments on the album that are truly redeeming, and one that instantly comes to mind is the lo-fi recording of "Readymade." This song comes across as an Elvis Presley goes to indie-rock sleep-away camp, but the poor quality of the track is a real deterrent. The straight-ahead rock and roll feeling of this record is attractive, but tracks like "Shiloh" and "Making Time Continental" are unfocused and take away from the album's flow. Neither of these two songs have fluidity, because Malachai's goal is to see how many different genres can be crammed into one song rather than getting across a clear musical feeling to the listener.

This album can be purchased at the Malachai Official Website

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