REVIEW FOR JANUARY 7, 2004

ONE STEP BEYOND
LIFE IMITATES ART
SELF-RELEASED, 2002
 
Hey, look!  A deathgrind band that incorporates reggae into its music!  It seems like somebody shit in your Cheerios, doesn't it?  As the black metal songsmiths would say, "ITS LIEK ONE OF OUR SATANIC HOERD WORSHIPING GOD!  THE TRATOR MUST BE SUMMARILY EXECUTTED!  LETS PAINT OUR FACES AND BURN A CHERCH" or whatever the fuck they say.  What do I know, I'm not kult enough.
 
Anyhow, Life Imitates Art is a diverse album, combining disparate genres like grind, death metal, reggae, funk and hardcore and lumping them in the same bucket of shit.  What makes One Step Beyond different in its approach to this lumping than, say, Fishbone or Time of Orchids is the fact that although the genres being wrecked here are many, the band plays deathgrind throughout.  Vocalist Justin Wood uses a truly guttural belch for the duration of the album, and his cavernal tunnel-digging works just as well on a "groovy" tune as it does in the blast parts.  It's uncanny, really.  A dub song like "Infinite Illusion" shouldn't sound half-decent with guttural vox, yet it does here.  One Step Beyond provides a great example of how to mix genres without sounding contrived or utterly schizophrenic (not that schizophrenia is a bad thing, it's just that reggae and death metal aren't meant to complement one another.)  Obviously, the members of One Step Beyond are skilled at the craft of songwriting, and none of the songs on Life Imitates Art are weak.  That's a testament to how good this album is if there ever was one.
 
Two niggling problems, though: much of the album is mired in this slow, groovy atmosphere.  While this isn't much of a problem, it's just that death metal and grindcore are supposed to be, well, fast genres, and One Step Beyond doesn't focus enough on the deathgrind side of things as the band should.  Also, the production is a little weird, being sort of treble-heavy while producing an excellent cymbal sound (especially given the fact that the cymbal sound came from a fucking drum machine.)  I realise it's a self-production, but there needed to be a little bit more bass.  Still, for a first album Life Imitates Art is a fucking whopper, and I expect One Step Beyond's next album to be better.  You'll be hearing about this band in the next few years, trust me.
 
Interestingly enough, Life Imitates Art is currently US$4.64 at Neoblast Records.  You have no excuse not to get this album, especially not you Yankee fucks with your dollar and your iron-grip hold on everything.  Go!  Get the album now or I'll consider you a poseur for life!  Seriously!  I fucking mean it!...what do you mean you hate reggae?  Fuck off!
 
ONE STEP BEYOND
PO Box 40
Marden SA 5070
AUSTRALIA
http://www.geocities.com/onestepweb/
[email protected]