The Brown Book

Thirty-Nothing (Self Released,  05.09)

Byline: All consuming Math-Rock that retains the theatrics of Metal.

For: Grails, Don Caballero, Breadwinner

Yes. This is brutally heavy and technically amazing. But the kids want to dance these days. Every sub-genre has it's own dance. Heavy Metal has head banging, Hardcore should really be labeled as a sport, like mixed-martial arts, and indie rock has it's own brand of self-aware posturing. But really how do you bro down to math rock? Faking a seizure would be a start, I guess. The Brown Book avoids the Math-Rock tags of being overly ponderous and un-listenable by throwing post-rock sensibilities, Sabbath riffs, and Math time signatures into a blender and playing as fast as they can what comes out the other side. Hailing from outside of Boston Thirty-Nothing was recorded by Keith Souza who manned the helm for Battles and Lightning Bolt. The Brown Book really should be uttered in the same breath as these prog and noise stalwarts. Thirty-Nothing retains the heaviness of pioneering bands like Botch and Hella while minding the listenability and disregard for pretension of the big, cheesy riffs of Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden. So often we listen to music for the expected pay off; the crescendo of post rock, the breakdown in heavy metal and hardcore, every song seems to be building to some point in which the listener feels validated. The Brown Book transcends these cliches by keeping you pinned to the stereo while each time signature, skull crushing riff, and sheer aural heaviness pummel you for 26 minutes. 

Deer Heads