:: Five Star Prison Cell - Slaves Of Virgo

Five Star Prison Cell

It may have taken four years for vocal contortionist Adam Glynn to return to the metal scene after his resignation from Melbourne based outfit Frankenbok, but what a return it was! Teaming up with guitarist Mark Holain, bassist Cameron Macdonald and drummer Marc Whitworth, Glynn found the perfect medium to cater to his newfound creative output and, under the banner of Five Star Prison Cell, the four piece act released their debut album ‘The Complete First Season’ in 2005. Described as having the technical precision of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Fantômas with a front man possessing the incredible range and sound of Mike Patton, Five Star Prison Cell’s brand of technical metal was a complete success, with many heralding the band as sounding completely different from their expectations. Now, after a couple of unintentional setbacks, the four-piece act has returned with their sophomore effort ‘Slaves Of Virgo’, which shows the band going well beyond all expectations on their second venture into the studio. After some initial sound manipulation (courtesy of producer, engineer and mixer D.W. Norton), ‘Do The World A Favour’ is the first song to get things underway, and it soon becomes clear that Five Star Prison Cell had no intention of taking the soft option. Intense, heavy and chaotic in every sense, ‘Do The World A Favour’ takes every facet of the band’s past sound to an entirely new extreme, and sets the tone of the overall album. ‘Deloris’ and ‘Pinholes’ are relentless build of tempos and riffs where Glynn’s off kilter melodies and mix of Patton sounding melodies and death growls provide the only catchy element amongst the ongoing barrage of noise, while the musical backdrops in ‘Obtuse: The Essence Of Indifference’, ‘Decree NISI’ and ‘Army Of The Vigilant’ adequately show the progression the musicians have made in the last two years. After a short breather around the halfway mark, the band hit back stronger and faster with the mind bogglingly complex and impenetrable ‘M’ and title track ‘Slaves Of Virgo’, before vocalist Rebekah Chapman (who partners with Glynn in the experimental Coitus Bünd) helps colour the stunning (and completely different sounding) metallic Eastern influenced ‘The Rise And Fall Of Red Sparrows’. In similar style to the previous track, ‘The Harridan Marathon’ takes a completely different path to the rest of the album with its slower doom like feel. On ‘Slaves Of Virgo’, Five Star Prison Cell don’t merely knock the listener over the head, but rather bludgeon endlessly until there’s nothing left of their intended victim’s human form. Needless to say, the only thing ‘Slaves Of Virgo’ is missing is a health warning to those unaware of just what to expect.