Saint Of Killers - s/t
(Edgetone Records 2002, EDT 4013)
Saint Of Killers - s/t
(Edgetone Records 2002, EDT 4013)
From Aural Innovations #24 (July 2003)
Saint Of Killers is a California based trio that play a dark and completely over-the-top brand of improv/jazz/thrash/prog/metal that is like Naked City to the nth degree. The band consists of Alwyn Quebido on electric guitar, Tyler Cox on drums, and Jesse Quattro on vocals (who is also a member of the very different Abstractions).
This is some seriously dark and anguished shit. Quebido cranks out strained guitar while Quattro screams and Cox leads the rhythmic direction. We're talking Naked City gone full blown metal with hints of jazz and Zappa meets King Crimson and MX-80 style, and some spaced out sound-art trips into the fiery brimstone of hell. I don't know what's more manic... Quebido's guitar or Quattro's vocals. But I'll tell ya what... these folks are really on to something. Not since Dr. Nerves' "Skin" have I heard such insane and intricately structured Metal. Quebido is a guitarist loaded with chops, anger, passion and imagination. And Quattro does some vocal freakouts that are more than a match for the guitar. Honestly, sometimes she makes Diamanda Galas sound about as aggressive as Olivia Newton-John. It was a pleasure to read the laundry list of influences in Quebido's bio that included such guitarists as Sonny Sharrock, Robert Fripp, Steve Hackett, Randy Rhodes, Fred Frith, Paco DeLucia, and Neil Young among many other musicians. You get the idea that these folks aren't stuck in a box.
In summary, highest recommendation to disturbed individuals who refuse to take their medication and really appreciate fucked up sonic mayhem played by talented individuals who can play like the devil and are determined to do something creatively different.
For more information you can visit the Edgetone Records web site at:
http://www.edgetonerecords.com.
Contact via snail mail c/o Edgetone Records; PO Box 2281; El Cerrito, CA 94530.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz