BETA
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Test Icicles with their clever and incredible name deliver great results on their debut. They're noisy and aggressive, with thrashy, distorted riffs and screamed vocals, but they also want to party at the same time. It's a really good concept, and they took pretty good advantage of it. The mix and the production is a little lackluster, but Test Icicles are one of those bands that don't really need a good mix. Just about anything works on these guys. James Ellis Ford took the spot as one of the producers on this album, so my hopes were pretty high with this album.
Thankfully, my hopes were matched with most of the tracks here. There's so many ways to describe 'For Screening Purposes Only', Obviously, they're influenced by dance-punk, but they also bring a variety of influences into their music. 'Catch It!' uses distorted, gabber-esque kicks and drums, and given the aggressive nature of the track, it's literally a digital hardcore song, 'Circle.Square.Triangle' is a cult classic new rave track with its catchy drum beat and repeated chorus: "We could use some more noises", and we can't forget that post-hardcore as well as electroclash is scattered all over this thing.
Your perspective on Test Icicles could be different as you need to be in the right mood to listen to this album. I've tried to listen to this album before in a less energetic mood and it just didn't do it for me. Some tracks are rather forgettable, with ideas that just don't work very well. I knew what they were trying to do on 'Catch It!', they could've put more thought into making it flow nicer. The interlude is pretty unnecessary, and there's a few sections within the songs that could've been cut out, as some of these tracks drag for longer than they should.
Overall, I had a really fun time with this record, and I found that their noisy sound helps tune out distractions. Who knows, maybe you could study to this music if you're in a loud environment. Have fun with that, because as soon as 'Circle.Square.Triangle' comes on, you'll be dancing like a madman.
