UNTITLED by Five Pointe O

With a maturity and finesse defying the fact that at the time of release, most members of Five Pointe O were not legally permitted to drink, vote or marry, ‘Untitled’ as an album begins with the brutal ‘Double X Minus’ (which in turn commences with the war-cry, “Chakaka-POW”), and then continues to sway between the gore-core intensity of ‘Freedom’ and ‘Breathe Machine’ to the pensive, contemplative poetry of ‘Purity .01’ and ‘Sympathetic Climate Control’. The individual musician-ship is largely riff-centric and integrated, as opposed to virtuosic, and fortunately nails the core of music of its ilk, the tightness of the sound. Add to that excellent production value and the album sounds like a perfectly executed audio-book, with each note and word perfectly articulated. 


Two things stand out, the subtlety, attention to detail and the restraint of the musicians in focusing on the sound of each song, and a lyrical flair for the surreal juxtaposed on the day-to-day, that is next to absent in modern metal. Sample these, “I kick back and watch the stars, they say, “This day will come, so please don’t be afraid!”” and “Fourteen years of broken ribs and broken dreams, but is he satisfied? His burden was chosen as the vessels broke in their eyes.” A spectacular effort of a unit, but short-lived, because Five Pointe O disbanded shortly after this sole full-length album release. It is almost tragic that the unit responsible for creating the masterpiece that is ‘Syndrome Down’ (“A gathered source of waves, of waves, of waves, we only sleep to pass away the days, but since this child is a man now, we’ll be away, away, away.”) no longer exists, but for the initiated, the immense re-listen value of ‘Untitled’ will suffice for a long, long time to come.