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When a debut full-length comes from a band with a 12-year existence behind it, it is probably reasonable to have expectations that are higher than normal for a debut. Sure enough, Teutonic quintet Forces At Work demonstrate a very high level of technicality in “Straight”. For example, guitarists Adrian Weiss and Mischa Blum do a great job in churning out a steady stream of mighty riffs, fast runs and laid-back melodic arpeggios.

“Straight” is anything but straight. The music is in fact schizophrenically progressive - within each song the band keeps changing music genre: from Blues to Jazz to Hardcore, and so on. With this kind of approach the potential casualty always tends to be the songwriting dynamics and indeed “Straight” does occasionally suffer from these symptoms. Maybe the band should keep a tighter reign on its brimming creativity next time around.

The singing style has a Hardcore/Nu-Metal abrasiveness with the few clean parts at times comparable to Pearl Jam. Now I do admit that this type of singing does not tend to go down well with me but even considering that factor I really don’t feel these vocals fit the music of Forces At Work very well.

This probably explains why I liked the instrumental track ‘Straight Into The Odd’. The non-Metal Jazzy bits of the other tracks also sounded great – as showcased in ‘3 Logic Dead’.

‘Dharma’ is another cool track, boasting some brilliant riffing and an atypical but great composition style.

Bottom line: great ideas delivered by skilful musicians but with a vocal style that dampens a lot of the fun.

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