Lody Kong: No Rules
The family name of Cavalera strikes true to many hearts of metal fans and for good reason. Bands such as the legendary Sepultura, Soulfly, and Cavalera Conspiracy have reigned well and have continued to have a strong influence in the metal community. Now Max Cavalera’s sons have formed Lody Kong, a four piece nu metal/thrash band and have released their first EP, No Rules. Now, clearly these boys will face great scrutiny and will be expected to be just as successful and pioneering as their father.
No Rules begins with “Disconnected” and is… alright sounding. The guitars are old school thrash with a bit of a dirt. But it only takes a measly 30 seconds for all hopes to be dashed as the vocals kick in. In the kindest way possible, it sounds like that one kid from your high school who tried to be edgy and nonconformist posting their shitty attempt at metal screaming with a cover of “Bring Me The Horizon”. The worst part is is that the vocalist, Igor Cavalera, really can’t come close to imitating the skill of his father. In his contribution to Soulfly’s “Bloodshed”, Igor sounds much better when he screams so perhaps it’s just their attempt at keeping Lody Kong “not so metal,” or how they recorded it, but it’s a massive mistake. Everything else sounds fine but the bassist really shines. It’s thick, adding real flavor to the sound and making the beat so much more satisfying.
The next track is “Monkeys Always Look,” a bit more hardcore with the drumming but the vocals still haunt the music. The lyrics soon reveal themselves to be equally atrocious and continue to reinforce the image in your head of the same high school kid with the bad vocal cover deciding to try their hand at lyrics. The guitars begin to get better and Zyon’s drumming is closer to the same skill level required by his contributions to Soulfly. An atmosphere similar to Deftones with an electric trippiness begins to pervade throughout and is probably the most creative addition. Unfortunately, this happens at the end of each track and comes off as a simple cop-out to end the song. No Rules ends with “Earth Is Yellow” and has this weird sound similar to what you could imagine as childish renditions of aliens abducting people from their space ship with tractor beam. Really, it’s just dumb.
This EP hurt to review because of the expectations coming in hoping the sons of Max Cavalera would have created something as vicious and hard hitting as Cavalera Conspiracy or Sepultura but tried for the experimental route and failed. Whatever went wrong with the vocals and decision to have each song follow the exact same formula needs to be addressed if Lody Kong want to release another album, especially if they’re going on every tour with their dad as an opening act. Hopefully with time they will mature artistically enough to create an album worth leaving beside their father’s.
Written by Cole Olson
Lody Kongs: No Rules
Minus Head Records
1.5 / 5
