The Jonbenet – The Plot Thickens / 2005 Pluto / 8 Tracks / http://www.thejonbenet.com / http://www.plutorecords.com / Reviewed 29 July 2005

The first minute of “The Plot Thickens” has to be the closest thing to epilepsy that an inanimate object can have, as it moves through brutal double-bass drums to something resembling a Rage Against The Machine song. It may actually be during the harmony-laden vocals of Michael, when the music subsides on “Eating Lightning Pt I” that The Jonbenet truly create a link with their audience. The infusion of more traditional harmonies may just be The Jonbenet’s ticket to superstardom; “Dramarama” vacillates between brutal “hardcore” riffs, sludge-rock lines and Incubus-like vocals. By the time that “Behold, The White Whore” comes out it becomes fairly obvious that The Jonbenet have taken the brief glimpses into a more hopeful future for noise put forth by bands like Some Girls and The Locust and been forever changed. The Jonbenet’s fickle demeanor when it comes to the arrangements in-song has to be lauded, as this spontaneous style really brings a myriad of styles to the table.

Unhappy with allowing a single riff to allow the band’s momentum to be run into the ground, The Jonbenet on “The Plot Thickens” jumps from style to style, all while infusing every note of their existence with something that is unmistakably theirs. Equally impressive is the confidence in which Dann’s guitar cuts through each of the track; during this album there is no need for the telltale fuzz that shows a guitarist that is not up to taking the challenge. Of particular note during “The Plot Thickens” has to be the extremely brief – perhaps five or six seconds tops – breakdown that mixes Les Claypool-like bass with clapping to create a catchy sound that will resound in a listener’s ears well after the disc’s short runtime (less than twenty-six minutes) ends.

While may of the disc’s tracks rely on a very intricate sound for momentum, it may just be a simplistically-arranged track that turns the most heads. “Trophy Wives” is a track that has Dann’s guitars operating with brutally efficient strikes, instead of the fencing-like maneuvers that are commonplace during “The Plot Thickens”, and it may be this track that brings The Jonbenet into proper prominence. Dann’s guitars and Drew’s drums are not the only brilliant spots on this disc; it is the punchy bass line of Wil that really makes the penultimate track “Scratch The Roman Numerals” into the track as found on the disc. Much like the blink of an instant that brought Wyld Stallions from nothingness into Kiss-styled perfection, two years has brought The Jonbenet from nothing into stewards of this new brand of harmonic noise/hardcore.

Top Tracks: Behold, The White Whore , Trophy Wives

Rating: 7.2/10