The Uncertainty Principle - Forever - song review

The Big Muff in man had a jolly good weekend, filled with surprises , surprises and more surprises. He was surprised to see his family in muffin land growing Cream farms and earning fabulous yields from it (he always thought the land was never fertile enough to sustain any form of organic matter). He was pleased to see them happy and busy for the harvesting season. He was doubly surprised to see his ex-flame,The Sweet Scent of Muffin, moving on merrily with a creamier, fluffier and warmer Muffin called Chocolat-opher (he always assumed she was never sexy enough to ever find another Muffin). He was pleased to see her happily married to Chocolat-opher. That kind of made him happy and melancholic at the same time ("No country for Old M-uffins"?)But something came to him as a gentle surprise. The Uncertainty Principle had released a new song called "forever" after an insanely long gap of a year (the reason for that shall be explained later).  Mr. Big Muff In Man was pleased to know they had finally come out with not just another likable song, but an absolutely powerful track  loud enough to shatter window panes in his house.
"Forever" by The Uncertainty Principle is a Tour De force, bludgeoning the ear drums with marvelous drum and guitar patterns. A very mathematical approach towards music making could very well be heard as the song progresses from the verse to the chorus to the bridge with the drums pounding louder than canon-fires. To break up the song in bits and pieces ; there are more than 4 or so time signature used throughout the song, the intro set in 7/8 with a brief 6/8 plus 7/8 drift and back to 7/8, later the song kicks off in the same signature with the closed wah and reverberating flanger on dead notes on the guitar, hitting a 9/8 musical fill into the philosophical thought inspiring chorus "through the flame inside the lamp my life goes on forever" to a  4/4 verse with 11/8 beats on the edges there back to 7/8 with mad-ass drum attack and a final massive solo in 4/4. Although I do make it sound like the band had an orgy with time signatures, it doesn't sound a least bit like that. And THEREIN lies the beauty of the song, that it doesn't fill your head with confusion with multiple odd time signature, it has a very definite trajectory and a fantastic feel to it. The drummer and the bassist deserves our applause for keeping the sound locked tightly (I've seen them live, phenomenally tight)

The Guitar patches are just perfect (thanks to the analog rig that Abhishek Rajan uses live) making the band sound better than any other upcoming band in Delhi. But even though the vocals sound very good and blend nicely with the track, it retains that resonating quality of being too repetitive. "wishing minds seeking lies" is heard way too many times in the song, and the vocals just end up being a final coating of sugar on the beautifully made pie. (FYI - THAT IN NO WAY MEANS THE VOCALS ARE BAD, THEY ARE JUST TOO REPETITIVE)    
The lyrics were too abstract for me to understand so i shan't comment on it. It is fairly repetitive again.(no where even close to the lyrical finesse of Hundred Octane's songs, honestly)

The production quality of the song,sadly, doesn't do justice to it. The drums recognisably sound programmed (especially during the heart thumping bridge where Raghav Meattle screams "in my soul"x2). The double tracked vocals do give a fuller sound but sounds like a group song in the chorus.
Everything else- just WOW. Good Stuff!!
Finally, lets talk about the new sound of the band. the uncertainty principle started off as an alternative rock band. But with Keith and Sidharth rajan's entry the band changed it's sound and became more progressive, drawing influences from tool, Karnivool and Chevelle. IIT-D's victory cemented their decision about this change of sound. And it has done them good, helping them win various college competitions in Delhi.
But in doing so, the band has almost come to sound like these bands. does it sound like Tool? hmm..yea, here and there, i can see the influence. does it sound like Karnivool? Well sort of. then what does it really sound like??

EXACTLY. The Uncertainty Principle is like tool and karnivool's love-child. "Forever"s intro guitar part sounds very tool-ish. And the bright and colourful chorus and bridge is very Chevelle-ish.
Not that its a bad thing, but it does put you off. For a band that started off covering songs by RHCP, changing its sound means a lot of work. The sky is the limit for them if they work on their songwriting skills to find a unique TUP sound that doesn't make them sound like anything else but themselves.
Forever is a beast of a song. Marvelous, exciting and powerful. Despite the criticism The Uncertainty Principle remains one of Delhi's most promising new acts. Hope to see more of them in the future
News in - "The Question" already is under production. Sit tight!
RATING:

       



(8 and a half muffins)
8.5/10


follow them on these websites :

http://www.myspace.com/the_uncertainty_p...
http://www.reverbnation.com/theuncertain...
http://www.youtube.com/user/tupdelhi
http://www.facebook.com/tupdelhi

The Uncertainty Principle are :
Abhishek Rajan (AB) - Lead Guitar/ Backing vocals
Nishant Kurup (Nick) - Rhythm Guitar
Siddharth Rajan - Bass
Keith Peter - Drums/ Backing Vocals
Raghav Meattle - Vocals

 

Hundred Octane - Delusion is No Illusion - album review

It was a bright, sunny day and there was no reason to believe that it would rain, for the sky glowed with iridescent rays of the hot sun that woke up "The Big Muff In Man". Groaning and blabbering indecently, he managed to carry himself to the "muff - loo" as he pooped out creams and crumbs into the velvet pot leaving a thick scent of vanilla essence in the room. After a prolonged session of grooming in the bathroom and blackcurrant breakfast beside the television in his front room, he decided to entertain himself with some music. He sat in front of his computer and scrolled down the web page , as he soon realized that Hundred Octane had finally released their much awaited album "Delusion is No illusion". He had known this band for a few years now, a band that had survived longer than most other Rock acts that started off with a bang but diminished in a few years (if not months). They started playing at the time when Parikrama too hadn't made it big (in a commercial sense of the term) and survived two decades of frequent line-up changes mostly caused by matrimonial affairs(many got married and chose to leave the band). If the information served is correct, then one former member even died. They had been through the toughest of times, seen the darkest of clouds, shittiest of shit blah blah and blah. But they never stopped making music. Mr. Big couldn't be happier for this milestone achieved by Hundred Octane. He heard the six track album and.................... rested, not because he was blown away by the album, but because quite evidently he had the hardest time figuring out, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF FREAKING GOD WENT WRONG WITH THESE GUYS!!???!!!!!"
" "Delusion is No Illusion" sounds like an album put together by a bunch of 16 year old  hooligans who are not yet out of their "Metallica Rocks" phase. Even though the album is a meagre thirty six and a half minutes long, it sounds like a cleverly devised sonic plan to set off the irritation alarm in every listener's eardrums. What's even more scary is that the riffs and certain melodies used in the album are .... (oddly enough) catchy. But it still retains one characteristic quality through out the album- every song starts off in a promising fashion, but as soon as it jumps to the verse or the chorus or the abrupt breakdown (like in Holocaust) we are left begging for mercy."
The Big Muff in Man pondered over why he didn't really think that the album truly represented a band that easily qualified as veterans in this industry. "It all rested in the intrinsic aspect of each band member's song-writing skills. The structure of almost every song was very predictable, and the predictability became a  real drag. That problem could have been fixed by changing the order of the songs on the album (but then setting an order with just 6 songs almost sounds like a bad joke). But then what do you do about Puneet Vohra's relentless pseudo-rock vocalist endeavours? One can easily discern the undying spirit in Puneet  "trying" to sing like Chad Kroeger or Hetfield. Vohra's Vocals are like a really ugly pair of leather shoes matched with Bermuda pants and bow-tie (it's just bad!!!). To put it simply, Puneet can be heard trying too hard to prove himself as a *quote-unquote" rock vocalist with an otherwise magnificent voice (proof - listen to the third track "might not be tomorrow", you will know he is potentially a kick-arse vocalist ; but the worsts of him can be heard  almost everywhere else on the album, particularly towards the end of the song called "surrendered to the victory", 7:30 to 7:40 could be used as a sound sample for blood-less abortion in hospitals). Our reaction to Puneet's vocals on "surrender to the Victory" -

 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes...utter shock!!)


The least that he can do is try to sing like himself, sans the bumpy vibrato and vocal distortions, which was beautifully exuded in "might not be tomorrow" and the beginning of the last song on the album. The phrasing of words and pronunciation is another issue. when i first heard "holocaust" (opening song) i could not figure out what the lyrics were. phonetically it came to me like "skaaiii iizzzz daahhhh, strweezz are crlosed, mom's the fayyyyy, road awah lauwwwzz". the story is pretty much the same in almost every song on the record. Arvind Singh's solo's could have told a better story, could have been more emotional, more energetic, but they don't sound like that. The guitar patches are very reminiscent of 80's metal era which is blatantly audible on the intro of "delusion is no illusion" and "you and me". There is also a brief guest appearance of a James Bond soundtrack-ish solo on "Mr. masquerade" . The bass line In "holocaust" kind of has a mind of its own, sounds out of place and doesn't go in sync with the acoustic guitar part (i say it with conviction because i had heard the earlier version of the song played by some other bassist who played that part immaculately). Kevin Binu plays the saving grace with his drumming skill, but still retains that typical "creed"-o-philic drumming pattern. But undoubtedly he remains the best drummer that Hundred Octane has ever had."

The production quality of the album proved to be food for Mr Man's displeasure. The sampled drums (the bass drum has no "bass") and the dismal mix made for a huge pile of unforgivable mistakes.
"oh and the story doesn't end there. The icing on the cake definitely has to be the "what the F**k" album art! That's when i lost faith in humanity for a wee while, but regained my calm disposition. the album art looks like the graphics from a cheap computer game played on windows 95 (16 bit) version. that's exactly when i knew i was supposed to run away as far as possible from the reach of this album."
But not everything about this album is bad though. *surprise surprise"!!
The songs have, quite possibly, the most wonderful lyrics that Mr. Man has heard in a very long time. The lyrical beauty of "Holocaust" and "might not be tomorrow" took him to another level of surrealism. They didn't screw it up totally after all!
Hundred Octane is not a bad Band, neither are they a bunch of posers as this review might suggest. they are definitely not that. In fact they are extremely knowledgeable and humble musicians trying to make it big like a lot of us. But they don't follow the conventional style of marketing themselves.In fact they don't market themselves mindlessly at all. They hardly post unnecessary things about themselves on their facebook fan page. And that's what separates them from the poser bands in Delhi. their love for music has survived two decades of struggle. I wish  they cover another round of 30-40 years doing the same i.e. making music. music. music.
I Just hope they don't come out with an album like this again. Because they do have a really big fan base. Which includes "The Big Muff In Man"






FOUR muffins on TEN
key tracks :
1. Might Not Be Tomorrow
2. Holocaust
3. Mr. Masquerade

you can follow the artist on these websites :

1. http://www.hundredoctane.com
2. http://www.myspace.com/hundredoctane
3. http://www.reverbnation.com/hundredoctan...
4. https://www.facebook.com/HundredOctane

Hundred Octane :

Puneet Vohra - Vox and Guitars Arvind Singh - Guitars, Backing Vocals and Harmonica,Ukulele Tushar Pandey - Bass Guitar Kevin Binu- Drums