Review by JD on November 10, 2011.

There are not too many types of metal that I am not a fan of, which probably tells you of my fanaticism with it. Death, Thrash and Doom are just the tip of my metallic iceberg, but some of the ‘newer’ styles make me shake my head and make me want to throttle them. I listen, and hear metal’s heart weeping in frustration.

Norris is a band hailing from Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada playing a version of Mathcore/Mathmetal at a furious pace. It is fast, furious and at times heavy yet that is both the bands greatest strength and weakest point. Sounding like way to many of the bands in this genre (not to mention they have a lack of cohesive melody to them) the band quickly falls into the ‘ho-hum’ category.

Throughout the album, one thing is for sure- they are explosive. The can handle their instruments, but they seem to lose melody lines faster than retarded Amoeba loses itself. The unbridled sound is explosive and somewhat inspiring, but because of a lack of a conscious melody line, puts them in the middle of the pack in the glut of these bands. Norris do sound like Alexonfire and other bands of that ilk, but I never thought much of any of them either. It sounds just like power without any passion... one needed element that all metal acts needs and wants.

If you love this type of frantic metal with the interchangeable and carbon copy sound with all acts Norris will be right up your alley. For most metalheads, it is all fury and cut and past riffs and yet no direction. It is sad, as Norris does have some real talent, they just have to find a real melody to be its vehicle to bring it all together and the balls to change the churning and directionless way they are playing.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:6.5
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 6
Originality: 3
Overall: 5

Rating: 4.9 out of 10