Search - Training For Utopia :: Plastic Soul Impalement

Still trying to figure out if I like it.

Robert P. Beveridge | Cleveland, OH | 03/19/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Training for Utopia, Plastic Soul Impalement (Tooth and Nail, 1998)I'm still not quite sure what to think of Training for Utopia. They've obviously got a handle on what they're doing, and know how to keep the listener's attention; it's not often that a thrash./hardcore band knows how to use noise to get their point across (and when you're in the same company as Integrity and Neurosis, you're certainly doing something right). On the other hand, vocalist Ryan Clark doesn't even attempt dynamics. The lyrics are all delivered in the same raspy full-on attack, which tends to lend a monotony to the parts of the songs that do have vocal accompaniment. A fully instrumental album by TfU would have been, I think, an awe-inspiring thing. But since the band have broken up, this will have to do. ***"

HEY SOMETHING'S WRONG.

Tom Servo | Satelite of Love | 10/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Training for Utopia is easily one of the best metalcore/chaos-core group of all time. Made up of members of Focal Point and these guys would move on to be the nu-metal sensation Demon Hunter. Training For Utopia are at once alarmingly bittersweet, remarkably romantic and mournfully tragic, yet often tongue-in-cheek. Their songs cut a path of brutal-honesty-disguised-as-playful-savvy not seen since the glory days of Nation Of Ulysses. Their new album sees them experimenting with loops, samples and trance-inducing effect trickery that blends into a somber beauty. They are basically a mix between Focal Point, Slipknot, NIN, and Dillinger Escape Plan. They are tight. You must buy this if you are anyway interested in hard music."