Plying a sound that dwells between the most ethereal, abstract moments of Tool and the progressive intricacies of bands like Riverside and Porcupine Tree, ManInFeast’s “How One Becomes What One Is” EP aims for a thoughtfully diverse and intriguing sound and most of the times it’s quite successful at it. Their debut EP reveals a band with a strong potential and with interesting musical ideas that show a reluctance to be trapped into a single stylistic corner, yes we’re able to detect and point out their influences throughout these five themes, but on the overall it’s extremely hard to pigeonhole them into a specific genre.While on first theme “Speaking Void” the vibe is predominantly of a progressive act in the mould of the aforementioned Riverside and Porcupine Tree, the second song sees ManInFeast covering wider musical areas, starting with some tribal percussion and Arabic scales and then plunging into a more emotional and aggressive sound that reveals some post-rock and shoegaze influences, with delightful variations between melodic subtleness and sonic tension.
“Keynesian Model” is an industrial instrumental song that isn’t too far removed from Nine Inch Nails and feels a bit out of place here, yet it’s in both “Beyond Blindness” and “Magic Stones” where the influence of Tool is most noticeable. The band displays a marvellous ability to create quiet, subtle and hypnotic rhythms and then slowly raising the tension and pace until it culminates in outbursts of sonic fury and aggressiveness.
“How One Becomes What One Is” is an interesting and surprising work from this young Portuguese band and I’m looking forward to hear more from them in the future. (7/10)
David Alexandre
Band info: www.myspace.com/maninfeast
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